Stories of life during the COVID-19 pandemic: Personal growth among individuals living in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland

Multiple influences such as climate change, environmental, and social factors, have been increasing the incidence of infectious disease outbreaks. Therefore, it is imperative to understand how people make sense of such events. Our study focuses on 100 Swiss-Italian participants during the initial COVID-19 pandemic wave, investigating how they navigated this period. We collected "Stories of Life," personal narratives about their experience and analyzed them with Thematic Analysis. Results show that over a third of the participants made sense of the pandemic by framing it as a time for personal growth. Our themes illustrated the importance of relationships, resilience, and appreciation of time. These findings align with existing literature on personal growth domains and underscore the significance of relational health in adversity. We discuss personal growth during a pandemic, emphasizing the need to consider socio-demographic characteristics and supportive social contexts, which can create inequalities in circumstances promoting growth.