EXPLAINING NURSES' EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL STIGMA CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

One of the psychological and social consequences of some diseases, especially infectious ones in any society is the patients’ fear of social reactions, the stigma of the disease, and being a transmission agent. Due to wide effects of this Illness on various aspects of the society, not much attention has been paid to this issue. Therefore, the present study aimed to explain the lived experiences of nurses regarding social stigmas of Covid-19 pandemic.

This qualitative study was conducted from march 2021 to march 2022 using interpretative phenomenology analysis. The participants were 12 nurses selected purposefully from the nurses of Babol University of Medical Sciences who had the experience of nurses caring for the patients with Covid-19 and had social stigma. The data were collected through semi-structured and individual interviews and analyzed simultaneously and continuously using Van Manen's method.

The lived experiences of nurses caring for the patients with Covid-19 include three main categories and six subcategories; the main categories were: Contradictory feelings (psychological tensions and positive attitude), Rejection (isolation and comprehensive rejection), and Adaptation strategies (self-awareness over time and the effective role of the media).

According to the findings of this study, there is a need for strategies by managers and officials to check the level of mental health of nurses working in the Covid-19 unit in order to improve the quality of the patient care by identifying the psychological needs resulted from the social stigma of the medical staff working in the Covid ward. In addition, it is possible to improve this group's mental health and their families by designing psychosocial interventions related to destigmatization such as stress management courses and resilience training as well as conducting psychological counseling.