Experience of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and compulsory isolation during the first wave of the pandemic in Poland – a qualitative analysis

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to explore the experience of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and mandatory isolation during the first wave of the pandemic in Poland. 
 Method: Five women who were infected with the virus and had been in isolation for three to more than five weeks participated in the study. The procedure used in the analyses was based on the phenomenological approach. 
 Results: 5 themes were identified in the analysis: 1. Crisis, 2. Infection, 3. Imprisonment, 4. Symptoms, and 5. Adaptation. Identifying the outlined themes captured the experience of crisis and adaptation to the situation of being infected with a potentially fatal virus and being imprisoned in one's own home for an extended period of time.
 Conclusion: The experience of our subjects fits into the wider context of a time of megacrisis, which globally emerged with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, when medical knowledge about it was very limited and isolation became the only tool to deal with the threat.