COVID-19 associated social stigma as experienced by frontline nurses of Hail: A qualitative study

Abstract

The coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19 or SARS-CoV2, is a family of first detected viruses in the latter part of the year 2019 in Wuhan, China. It has leaped into a pandemic disease in just a short time reaching almost all populated parts of the world plunging economies while causing millions of deaths and it is still emerging spreading with more infectious mutations as of the end of 2020. It overwhelmed Government and health care institutions with the large turnout of infected. The virus transmission effectively occurs in close distance person-to-person interactions and contacts. Among the vulnerable group worst hit are the health care workers receiving the most brunt and social stigma. Health care workers of Hail were not spared and had experienced social stigma too. Such demeaning experiences have led to this study to explore the sentiments of nurses stricken by COVID-19. This study utilized the descriptive-qualitative research methods that include NVivo plus in analyzing the transcribed statements of respondents. The thematic analysis employed yielded the classification of the participants' responses within three themes: Personal sentiment, pessimistic image, and unsupportive environment. The nurses diagnosed positively with COVID-19 felt stigmatized in their workstation and the community during and after complete recovery and undertaking the mandatory quarantine period. Since this study is limited to hospital nurses, parallel research is highly recommended to investigate other healthcare workers' sentiments and determine what allows stigmatization of the COVID-19 patients.