International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 8, Issue 8 (August 2021), Pages: 52-57

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 Original Research Paper

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

 Author(s): Salman Alsaqri 1, *, Petelyne Pangket 1, Mohannad Alkuwaisi 2, Jordan Llego 1, Majed S. Alshammari 1

 Affiliation(s):

 1Nursing Department, University of Ha’il, Hail, Saudi Arabia
 2Nursing Department, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

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 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9178-2946

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2021.08.007

 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. 

 © 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Hospital nurses, Perceptions, Coronavirus, COVID-19 stigma

 Article History: Received 21 February 2021, Received in revised form 13 May 2021, Accepted 14 May 2021

 Acknowledgment 

The research investigators would like to express their gratitude toward the University of Hail for funding this study and we are indebted to all the nurses who freely gave their time to participate in this study. This research has been funded by Scientific Research Deanship at University of Ha'il - Saudi Arabia through project number COVID-1924.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations: 

The research study's importance and other considerations such as the freedom to withdraw anytime during the interview session were explained to the potential participants. Before any interview proceeded, the prospective respondent signed a free and prior informed consent, who willingly and voluntarily participates. It was also clear that any information collected from participants and their identities are kept anonymous and confidential. The researchers established protocols and procedures in conducting the study. The data collected were checked by the respondents ensuring the credibility of the results. It assured that the description of the participant's situation was completely transcribed, after which the authors analyzed the results.

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Alsaqri S, Pangket P, and Alkuwaisi M et al. (2021). COVID-19 associated social stigma as experienced by frontline nurses of Hail: A qualitative study. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(8): 52-57

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