Changes In Social Norms Research Articles

The change in social norms in the Mafia's territories: the anti-racket movement of Addiopizzo

AbstractSocial norms pervade society and when they conflict with legal norms, the former undermine the latter making them ineffective. In this study, we propose that the extortion racket in Sicily has turned into a social norm and this is why recent top-down interventions have failed in stalling this socially undesirable activity. One exception is represented by Addiopizzo, a grass root movement that uses non-legal means to fight the racket phenomenon in Sicily. During the last 15 years, Addiopizzo was able to produce an effective reduction in the payment of protection money in the Sicilian city of Palermo by triggering, we suggest, among other things, a process of change in social norms. Acknowledging the importance of a change in social norms to achieve social change allows us to link the theory of institutions as ‘rules’ with the theory of institutions as ‘equilibria’.

26.A. Workshop: Assessing the role of policies and actions to address childhood obesity

Abstract Childhood obesity has grown to become one of the most dramatic features of the global obesity epidemic, with long-term consequences. The spread of obesity has been fueled by changes in social norms and living environments that have shaped individual behaviours making them conducive to excessive and imbalanced nutrition, sedentary lifestyles, and ultimately obesity and associated diseases. The STOP project will aim to generate scientifically sound, novel and policy-relevant evidence on the factors that have contributed to the spread of childhood obesity in European countries and on the effects of alternative technological and organisational solutions and policy options available to address the problem. STOP will translate the evidence gathered and generated into indicators and measurements, policy briefs and toolkits and multi-stakeholder frameworks. A special focus of STOP is understanding the stakeholders' networks and drivers of stakeholders' action. STOP will establish new ways for policy-relevant evidence to be generated, made available and used in the design and implementation of effective and sustainable solutions for childhood obesity at the EU, national and local levels. Each of the policy work packages will: Produce evidence syntheses and impact simulations for different policy approaches;Assess selected policy approaches and actions in children cohorts and other relevant settings;Devise policy toolkits and policy guidance to support the adoption and implementation of specific actions by relevant actors;Establish a country-based European accountability and monitoring framework in each policy area. The workshop aims to: Showcase the impact of different policy options evaluated throughout the STOP project;Increase participants' understanding and awareness of the opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of selected policies;Increase awareness of public health professionals of the importance of overcoming siloes in identifying and implementing public health policies;Increase the understanding of multi-stakeholder engagement. The discussion will explore the role of stakeholders across different policy areas. We will explore the different definitions of “stakeholders” and “multi-stakeholders” engagement. This will also be an opportunity to explore some of the benefits, risks and challenges around stakeholder engagement, and explore what are the different types of stakeholders involved in these policies as well as their roles. The workshop will offer an opportunity to: Inform participants about existing physical activity, regulatory and fiscal policies to address childhood obesity;Inform participants about new, innovative EU-level projects that aim to address childhood obesity;Outline preliminary findings of the STOP project with regards to the effectiveness of the evaluated policies;Identify some of the gaps and limitations of existing policies and discuss some of the steps to ensure successful policy implementation. Key messages Present new evidence on what policy approaches work in addressing key determinants of childhood obesity. Showcase findings on the attitudes of different stakeholders towards obesity policies, and debate the benefits, risks and challenges of multi-stakeholder engagement.

Living a Lie: Theory and Evidence on Public Preference Falsification

We propose a model of how social norms change in response to the evolution of privately held preferences. Our aim is to rationalize the tendency for individuals who hold minority preferences to take actions favored by the majority. We do this using a game involving a tension between a desire to act according to one's underlying preferences and a desire to conform to the majority opinion. In an experimental setting, we find that even after a majority of the population shares what was previously an unpopular minority opinion, members of the new majority are slow to change their behavior. The timing and speed with which behavior transitions to match new, majority-held opinions depends on the size of the reward for conformity. When the rewards for conformity are low, the transition is gradual, with considerable periods of costly public disagreement. When the rewards for conformity are high, transitions are slow to start but conclude rapidly once they begin.

The Changes Of Norms Among The Youths Relationship In A Small Town

This research was conducted to prove the extent of changes in social norms among young people in a small town. The case study are the two cities: Indramayu and Cirebon. It aims to analyze the things that cause a change in norms of the youth association. The method is survey and observation, with quantitative data collected by questionnaire. The samples in this study were 300 respondents using quota sampling; i.e., 150 respondents drawn from high school in Indramayu, and the rests were taken from Cirebon. The analysis was done by scoring techniques. Based on the results there are changes in social norms among the youths. For about 91 percent in Indramayu male and female respondents have dated at least once. Meanwhile in Cirebon, the pattern shows only 80 percent. There is also evidence that 53 percent young men and women in Indramayu have ever been kissed, and 29 percent for case in Cirebon. One of the causes of the change in norms is the globalization involving technology improvement, especially spreading of internet. The survey revealed that the most dominant in influencing the youngster relationship such as kissing, hugging, holding hands and even sexual intercourse is porn video. Approximately at56 percent or 167 people of the 300 respondents get the motivation after watching it.
 

The changed and the unchanged: Peer learning for gender and development in Delhi

Peer education has become a popular strategy for promoting gender equality in recent years in response to calls for more participatory forms of development and thanks to the growing popularity of ‘social norms change’ within the development industry. However, there is some evidence that the main benefits of peer education programs are accrued by the peer educators themselves, with little change evident among the target group. This essay draws on research with peer educators working in the ‘gender and development’ sector in Delhi to make two arguments. First, peer educators expressed a sense of enhanced agency and aspirations as a result of the participation in these development initiatives. However, consistent with critiques of other forms of ‘information-centred development’, the primary outcomes of these programs were tied to the material conditions of employment for peer educators rather than entitlements for intended beneficiaries or indeed the knowledge that peer educators had received and were disbursing. Second, in addition to the the absence of structural change and collective political action, the limited outcomes of peer education programs for intended beneficiaries might also reflect the binary created within information-centred approaches to development between the changed and the unchanged. This binary resonates with the dislocations described by scholars of development categories and postcolonial feminist scholars, suggesting that the intended beneficiaries of these programs might feel alienated by their purported peers when development is conceptualized in terms of norms to be changed through information programs.

Reproduction of social norms in Russia

The article considers the ineffective balance of Russian informal institutions, which is blocking economic development. The possibilities of overcoming the inefficient equilibrium are limited by social norms, which are reproduced, among other things, in the system of higher education. Higher education is one of the most effective channels for transmitting social norms. According to the hypothesis of socialization by R. Inglehart and the hypothesis of “impressionable years” by P. Giuliano and A. Spilimbergo, the period of greatest mental plasticity, when values and behavioral attitudes are formed, falls on the period of early adulthood — from 18 to 25 years. The change in social norms in Russian universities was demonstrated on the basis of a longitudinal sociological survey of students of Russian universities conducted in 2014—2016 in 10 regions of Russia. It is proved that Russian students increase their loyalty to opportunism and violation of the rules as they grow older — there is a reproduction of inefficient social norms.

Changes in union formation patterns in a context of male marriage-squeeze: an exploratory survey in rural Shaanxi, China

Starting from the postulate that formation of heterosexual unions is necessarily affected by a numerical imbalance between the sexes in the marriage market, this paper uses data from a survey conducted in 2014–2015 in three rural counties of Shaanxi, China, to analyse the mechanisms to cope with this rather particular socio-demographic situation and with the poverty that is endemic in the survey area, in order to achieve marriage by any means. This empirical study based on individual quantitative data analyses the consequences of the male marriage-squeeze from the point of view of married men. The difficulty of getting married is identified and taken into account to analyse three specific adaptation mechanisms: demographic adaptations, changes in social norms regarding mate selection criteria, and economic adaptations. Findings demonstrate that marriage timing and age gap between spouses are levers that enable men to enlarge their pool of potential mates. But monetization of marriage is one of the most immediate consequences of the competition between the men seeking to marry. In sum, the men who reported difficulties getting married did so later than the other men, have greater age-gap with their spouse, and are in a disadvantaged position when negotiating the terms of their marriage. We conclude that the male marriage-squeeze has to be understood not only in relation to how marriage is constructed as a family and social institution, but also as a catalyst for other inequalities, especially in terms of social and economic capital.

ACT: An Evidence-Based Macro Framework to Examine How Communication Approaches Can Change Social Norms Around Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a complex harmful traditional practice associated with prevalent social norms. Yet, there is a lack of social norms focused conceptual and measurement frameworks to assess the impact of social and behavior change communication-based interventions towards ending the practice of FGM. This manuscript describes the development of an evidence-based macro framework to measure FGM behavior and social norms change over time. ACT is an acronym for the different sections of the framework: 1) Assess What People Know, Feel, and Do; 2) Ascertain Normative Factors; 3) Consider the Context, Especially Gender and Power; 4) Collect Information on Social Networks and Support; 5) Track Individual and Social Change Over Time; and 6) Triangulate All Data Analysis. ACT takes a social-ecological perspective to change and was constructed using various social norms theories, both in general and specific to FGM. Subsequently, meetings were held with social norms and FGM field experts across the world to further refine the framework. The ACT framework includes a menu of constructs, indicators, methods, and tools that can be adapted according to available resources, the local context, and research limitations. Both qualitative and participatory quantitative methods are described. Descriptions of the steps necessary to measure social norms change with regard to FGM through monitoring and evaluation are included. The ACT framework allows for change to be directly linked to the communication approaches used by interventions through attribution and contribution using indicators to measure outputs, short-term outcomes, and exposure. Triangulation is built into the ACT framework to facilitate validation, enrichment, and holistic interpretation of data, as well as creating a feedback loop. ACT is currently being validated in two countries in Africa in which FGM is practiced to different extents. Next steps are discussed.

Overconsumption as Ideology

In response to climate change projections, scientists and concerned citizens are increasingly calling for changes in personal consumption. However, these calls ignore the true relationship between production and consumption and the ongoing propagation of the ideology of overconsumption. In this article, we draw from Western Marxist theorists to explain the ideology of overconsumption and its implications for addressing global climate change. Drawing from Herbert Marcuse and Guy Debord, we illustrate how production drives consumption, how advertising promotes false needs and excess, how these power relations are concealed, and how they undermine social and ecological well-being. Specific to climate change, continued widespread support for increasing levels of production and economic growth will undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming. Given the relationships between production and carbon emissions, effective mitigation efforts will require significant systemic changes in work, production, consumption, advertising, and social norms.

Does ‘flight shame’ affect social norms? Changing perspectives on the desirability of air travel in Germany

‘Flight shame’ describes an unease about the climate implications of air travel, and bears evidence of a change in social norms that have so far associated flying with social status. This paper discusses whether Fridays for Future demonstrations and ensuing flight shame have influenced social norms regarding the desirability of air travel, and whether this is measurable in a decline in air travel, or policy support for measures curbing emissions from aviation. These aspects are discussed on the basis of German flight statistics and an online panel survey (n = 1002) conducted in August 2019 in Germany. Results show that, against a background of falling domestic air transport demand, respondents do not report a significant change in travel behaviour. However, a two-third majority of respondents indicate support for market-based measures increasing the cost of flying, as well as policies forcing airlines to reduce emissions and legislation abolishing subsidies. These findings point at an ongoing change in social norms, which could be reinforced if policymakers took advantage of public support for ambitious climate policies.

Effectiveness of a multi-level intervention to reduce men\u2019s perpetration of intimate partner violence: a cluster randomised controlled trial

BackgroundMen’s perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) limits gains in health and wellbeing for populations globally. Largely informal, rapidly expanding peri-urban settlements, with limited basic services such as electricity, have high prevalence rates of IPV. Evidence on how to reduce men’s perpetration, change social norms and patriarchal attitudes within these settings is limited. Our cluster randomised controlled trial aimed to determine the effectiveness of the Sonke CHANGE intervention in reducing use of sexual and/or physical IPV and severity of perpetration by men aged 18–40 years over 2 years.MethodologyThe theory-based intervention delivered activities to bolster community action, including door-to-door discussions, workshops, drawing on the CHANGE curriculum, and deploying community action teams over 18 months. In 2016 and 2018, we collected data from a cohort of men, recruited from 18 clusters; nine were randomised to receive the intervention, while the nine control clusters received no intervention. A self-administered questionnaire, using audio-computer assisted software, asked about sociodemographics, gender attitudes, mental health, and the use and severity of IPV. We conducted an intention-to-treat analysis at the cluster level comparing the expected risk to observed risk of using IPV while controlling for baseline characteristics. A secondary analysis used latent classes (LCA) of men to see whether there were differential effects of the intervention for subgroups of men.ResultsOf 2406 men recruited, 1458 (63%) were followed to 2 years. Overall, we saw a reduction in men’s reports of physical, sexual and severe IPV from baseline to endpoint (40.2% to 25.4%, 31.8% to 15.8%, and 33.4% to 18.2%, respectively). Intention-to-treat analysis showed no measurable differences between intervention and control clusters for primary IPV outcomes. Difference in the cluster-level proportion of physical IPV perpetration was 0.002 (95% confidence interval [CI] − 0.07 to 0.08). Similarly, differences between arms for sexual IPV was 0.01 (95% CI − 0.04 to 0.06), while severe IPV followed a similar pattern (Diff = 0.01; 95% CI − 0.05 to 0.07). A secondary analysis using LCA suggests that among the men living in intervention communities, there was a greater reduction in IPV among less violent and more law abiding men than among more highly violent men, although the differences did not reach statistical significance.ConclusionThe intervention, when implemented in a peri-urban settlement, had limited effect in reducing IPV perpetrated by male residents. Further analysis showed it was unable to transform entrenched gender attitudes and use of IPV by those men who use the most violence, but the intervention showed promise for men who use violence less.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02823288. Registered on 30 June 2016.

Stigma, Opioids, and Public Health Messaging: The Need to Disentangle Behavior From Identity.

Stigma plays an important role in understanding successful interventions to control the opioid epidemic in the United States. Stigma has been described both as an agent to incentivize positive health behavior and as an agent of marginalization contributing to poorer health. Past scholarship has argued that stigma has positively motivated public health changes, for example, among tobacco users; it has also been associated with discrimination against vulnerable individuals, resulting in increasingly poorer health behaviors, for example in relation to HIV-prevention messaging.The discourse on stigma may conflate the denormalization of unhealthy behaviors with wholesale rejection of individual identities. More effective interventions would counter stigma against people who use opioids in general and specifically denormalize opioid misuse. These interventions might alter the effect of public health messaging and ultimately improve outcomes.We argue that public health educators and communication campaigns can contribute to positive social norm change and motivate healthy behaviors by incorporating strategies that attempt to disentangle unhealthy behaviors from identity.

Enforcing Your Own Human Rights? The Role of Social Norms in Compliance with Human Rights Treaties

Although scholars are increasingly able to explain why states (do not) comply with human rights treaties, the role of social norms in compliance has been neglected. This is remarkable because human rights often directly address social norms. Our study aims to contribute to the existing literature by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence on the relationship between citizens’ social norms and compliance with human rights treaties. The quantitative results provide strong support for such a relationship. The findings from the additional qualitative analysis suggest that bargaining over (and thus changing) social norms is an important process through which compliance with human rights can be influenced.

The ‘Iron Triangle’ and the Rise of the Counter-Norms of Science

In this article, Lucas Bergkamp discusses the erosion of the ethical and social norms of science. Such erosion is occurring in what he calls ‘new science.’ New science is caught in an ‘iron triangle’ of ‘policy-science-valorization’ that renders it impervious to scrutiny and revision. New science is both a product and a cause of the redefined relations between politics and science, which have resulted in harmful politicization of science and scientization of politics. In this new symbiosis, scientists have captured policy-makers (regulatory capture), and policy-makers have captured scientists (scientific capture) for mutual benefit. Both politics and science can claim to be drivers of a ‘social justice’ movement ostensibly aimed at improving the world. As they cover each other’s backs, each is able to avoid effective accountability. This article looks at one side of the iron triangle, and attempts to answer the question how the politicization of new science has become possible. How have some scientists come to serve political ends, acting like aids to policy-makers, while still claiming to be scientists? Science is held in high regard, and claims that science is ideologically or politically biased are generally treated with skepticism. New science is fundamentally different, however, and amenable to ideological or political appropriation. Several factors have contributed to new science’s politicization, including post-modernism, the rise of risk society, the precautionary principle and victimhood culture, infiltration of social institutions, including the progressives’ dominance in universities, and changes in the ethos of science. Here, the focus is on the latter, in particular the erosion of the ethical and social norms of science, and the rise of the so-called ‘counter-norms’ of science (particularism, individualism, self-interestedness, and organized dogmatism). This degeneration of the scientific enterprise has allowed scientists to act as suppliers of policy support, to advocate for a cause, and to suppress dissent. It has enabled new science to be exploited for political purposes, and to become an integral part of a social movement. New science is a method not for predicting the future, but for shaping the future; as such, it is part of a vision for a better world. Adopting a macro-level perspective, the first part of this article discusses the iron triangle and the resulting pressure towards political use of science. It highlights the crisis and overextension of science, which have rendered it vulnerable to ideologies. The second part explains at the micro-level how it was possible that science became a political instrument. Here, the changing social and ethical norms of science are discussed. At the micro-level, the explanation of new science’s rise hinges on the dominance of the counter-norms of science. Attention is also paid to the strategies and tactics deployed by new science to gain political influence, which reinforce its politicized status. Throughout the discussion, climate science serves as a prime example of these developments.

Standing Up for Nontraditional Families: How Third-Party Standing Prevents Courts from Examining the Best Interest of the Child Standard in Texas

Texas should redefine “parent” to include de facto parents. Texas currently defines parent as an individual that has either legally adopted the child or is biologically related to the child. While this definition works well for families that are comprised of two heterosexual individuals and only their biological children, this definition of parent does not protect the nontraditional families that are increasingly becoming more common. As social norms change, more children are raised by individuals that are neither their biological nor adoptive parents. What this means for those children is that an individual, or third-party parent, that has played a significant role in their upbringing has limited rights to remain in that child’s life. For the child, this means that without a change, the child will inevitably face lasting negative psychological effects that result from separation from an individual that has been the child’s primary caretaker. For an individual to establish rights to a child, that has neither adopted nor is biologically related, that individual must first have standing to bring the suit. The Supreme Court holding in Troxel v. Granville shaped third-party standing jurisprudence when it recognized that biological parents have a constitutionally-protected interest in the upbringing of their children. This means that an individual that does not meet the Texas definition of parent will face stringent standing requirements because the court views the individual as an outsider. In Texas, for a third-party parent to bring a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, the third-party to have actual care, control, and possession of the child for at least six months and then they must bring the suit within ninety days of no longer meeting that threshold. Even if the third-party can overcome the actual care, control, and possession requirement, the third-party parent then faces the parental presumption — meaning that they must show that harm would result to the child if the third-party parent was not awarded custody. This parental presumption overshadows the best interest of the child standard that is supposed to be the primary consideration in all custody hearings. Unfortunately, standing and the parental presumption prevents the court from examining what is in the best interest of the child, as well as disregards the fact that children also have a constitutionally-protected interest to continue familial relationships regardless of any biological link. Because Texas has given heavyweight to the parental presumption, third-party parents’ rights are significantly limited in scope. This is where the issue lies — a de facto parent should not be treated as a third-party, instead they should be seen as a parent. If Texas redefined parent to include de facto parents, as the 2017 version of the Uniform Parentage Act suggests, this would allow individuals that have played a significant role in the child’s upbringing to completely bypass the actual care, control, and possession language and instead the court would view the de facto parent as a legal parent. This would allow the court to adequately consider the best interest of the child while still balancing the liberty interests of the biological parents. Redefining parent to include de facto parents allows the court to examine what truly should be the primary consideration in all custody cases: the best interest of the child.

Contemplation by Design: Leveraging the "Power of the Pause" on a Large University Campus Through Built and Social Environments.

College and university campuses have long been designed as embodied places of societal values and aspirations, reflecting both academic traditions and heritages alongside social and scientific change and innovation. More pragmatically, these spaces share some commonalities with other living and working environments, and must adapt to changing technological and social norms. Since the 1970's, workplace adaptations included employer-sponsored health promotion programs and facilities. While campus environments such as fitness centers and dining halls have been incorporated into health promotion initiatives, other aspects of human well-being have been neglected. In this paper, we describe an initiative, Contemplation By Design, to incorporate contemplation and mindfulness into the daily lives of all members of the Stanford University community, including students, faculty, staff, and their families, as well as alumni and retirees who live close by. This case study highlights ways that physical planning and programmatic initiatives for contemplative practices have been integrated to deliver generalizable, community-based well-being resources that can be emulated in diverse settings throughout the Stanford University campuses, including the main campus and local satellite campuses. Based on experience drawn from Contemplation By Design, practical recommendations for designing contemplative practice spaces and programs are offered.

Factors associated with successful tobacco use cessation among teachers in Bihar state, India: a mixed-method study.

Although tobacco use is declining in several countries including India (dropping from 35% in 2009-10 to 29% 2016-17 among adults)-it still poses a huge burden on India, as the world's second largest consumer of tobacco products. In Bihar state, with a prevalence of 25%, the Bihar School Teachers Study (BSTS) successfully enlisted teachers as role models for encouraging quitting and changing social norms pertaining to tobacco. The study used a mixed-methods approach to identify factors associated with teachers' quitting. Qualitative data were collected through focus groups with teachers and school principals. Quantitative data were collected through a written survey administered to school personnel post-intervention. Key findings from focus groups were that teachers and principals quit using tobacco and promoted cessation because they wanted to model positive behaviors; specific information about tobacco's harms aided cessation; and the BSTS intervention facilitated a school environment that supported quitting. Survey results indicated teachers who reported knowing people who quit using tobacco in the prior year were far more likely to quit as were teachers who reported that their school's tobacco policy was completely enforced. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data yielded important insights with strong implications for future interventions.

Morals in Multi-unit Markets

We examine how the erosion of morals in markets depends on the market power of individual traders. Previously studied single-unit markets provide market power to individual traders by limiting the roles of two forces: (i) the replacement logic, whereby immoral trading is justified by the belief that others would trade otherwise; (ii) market selection, by which the least moral trader determines quantities. In an experiment, we compare single-unit to (more common) multi-unit markets which may activate these forces. We find that, in contrast to single-unit markets, multi-unit markets show full erosion of morals. Especially the replacement logic drives this finding. In addition, we find that (i) market experience leads to biased social learning, whereby subjects believe that others are less moral than they actually are; (ii) erosion of morals persists partially after multi-unit markets; (iii) changes in social norms are not driving these results.

The Social Determinants of Mental Health: Psychiatrists' Roles in Addressing Discrimination and Food Insecurity.

The social determinants of mental health are societal problems that disrupt optimal mental health, increase risk for and prevalence of mental illnesses, and worsen outcomes among individuals with mental illnesses. The various social determinants, two of which are described herein because they are too often neglected-discrimination and food insecurity-are underpinned by an unequal and unjust distribution of opportunity, which, in turn, is driven by both public policies and social norms. Discrimination and social exclusion, especially based on race and ethnicity, are pervasive and will remain largely resistant to change within society until explicitly antiracist public policy is enacted and overtly racist social norms are replaced by attitudes of acceptance and social inclusion. Similarly, eradicating food insecurity will occur only through changes in both policy and social norms. Psychiatrists have an opportunity to screen for, thoroughly assess, and address social risks (including perceived discrimination and food insecurity) at the clinical level. They also can play an important role in the shaping of policy and changing of social norms at the community and societal levels. All of these interventions and activities will ultimately improve mental health, reduce the prevalence of mental illnesses, and improve outcomes for patients.

The Experiences and Perceptions of Health-Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Muscat, Oman: A Qualitative Study.

IntroductionPredominantly, studies on COVID-19 report quantitative data that often miss the social implications and other determinants of health. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of health care workers (HCWs) in primary health care in the management of COVID-19 with respect to medical response experiences, socio-cultural and religious reforms, psychological impressions, and lessons learned.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using an empirical phenomenological approach. Six focus group discussions were conducted across various stakeholders working frontline in the management of COVID-19 (managerial, public health/field/community and primary care health centers). They participated in semi-structured, in-depth group discussions from 11th to 20th May 2020. All discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsForty participants were involved in this study. Three themes emerged related to the medical response experiences, including the rapid re-structuring of the PHC services, use of technology and challenges of working on COVID-19. Perceptions on the socio-cultural and religious reforms included changes in social and religious norms, and anticipated gaps in accessing health care among the vulnerable groups (elderly, expatriates, and individuals with low economic status). Perceptions on psychological disturbances were themed as consequences of social distancing, management of dead bodies, exhaustion among the health care workers, and risk of exposure. Finally, lessons learned were centered around building on the existing epidemiological and public health capacities, improving access to health care and overcoming resistance to change. Most participants labelled their experience in COVID-19 as an “experience of wisdom” in which learning was a continuous process.ConclusionThis qualitative study amongst primary HCWs revealed certain aspects of response to COVID-19 in Muscat, Oman. Results has unfolded various aspects of COVID-19. The situation was perceived by primary HCWs as a new experience that challenged the primary health care; enforced the utilization of public health/epidemiological skills, and linked to unfavorable socio-religious and psychological events.