Boxed in: changes in apartment residents’ health behaviours following the COVID-19 lockdown – a longitudinal cohort study

ABSTRACT

Australia’s housing context has long been characterised by low-rise detached homes, but rapid population growth has prompted a recent boom in apartment construction. Apartment residents may be more vulnerable to the negative impacts of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders due to the distinct constraints and stressors of apartment housing, but empirical research on this population is scarce. This study adds to the literature on the health impacts of lockdowns by examining longitudinal changes in the health behaviours of Australian apartment residents. Participants (n = 159) completed a survey between 2017–2019 and a follow-up survey in 2020 following a six-week national lockdown. Residents reported increased walking for recreation, sleep duration, and home cooking frequency, but decreased walking for transport, greater sitting time, and weight gain. Alcohol consumption remained stable. The findings highlight the complex and multifaceted impact of the pandemic, with some health behaviour changes highlighting the benefits of having more time to devote to certain activities, and others showing the unintended negative health consequences of lockdowns. Given the likelihood of future pandemics, a renewed policy focus on apartment space and layout provisions that better facilitate home-based activity is required to mitigate the health risks of lockdown conditions for those living in apartments.

KEYWORDS:

• Apartment buildings
• physical activity
• sitting time
• alcohol consumption
• meal practices
• sleep duration, BMI

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Department of Planning Lands and Heritage (WA), Office of the Government Architect (WA), Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), Landcorp and Heart Foundation for providing in kind support, and the assistance of apartment residents, resident associations, architects, developers and local councils. We also acknowledge Dr Clover Maitland, Dr Paula Hooper and Professor Billie Giles-Corti for their assistance in the development of the survey, and Dr Paula Hooper for her role in the development of the objective building measures.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

The HIGH LIFE Study was approved by The RMIT University Design and Social Context College Human Ethics Advisory Network (CHEAN B 21146–10/17) and the University of Western Australia Human Ethics Research Committee (RA/4/1/8735).

Additional information

Funding

SF is supported by an ARC Future Fellowship [FT210100899]. The High Life Study is funded by an ARC, DECRA [DE160100140] and the Western Australian (WA) Health Promotion Foundation [Healthway; #31986].

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Kleeman

Alexandra Kleeman is a research fellow in the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University. Her current research interests include the design and provision of high-density housing and the impact this form of housing has on residents’ health and social outcomes.

Sarah Foster

Sarah Foster is an ARC Future Fellow at the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University. Her research focuses on furthering our understanding of the impact of the urban environment on a range of social and health outcomes. She currently leads a research program examining the policy and practice of designing healthy equitable higher density communities.