Social discrimination and stigma on the community of health professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic. An ethnographic approach

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused the pandemic since March 2020, has affected among others, health professionals who work in covid-19 units by facing social discrimination. The aim of this study was to record the experiences of health professionals working in the first line of treatment of the pandemic, to analyse the effects of the pandemic on the interpersonal relationships of health professionals, and to ask about the stigma they faced during their work with people with covid-19.

This is a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach based on 160 semi-structured interviews with health professionals living and working in the Epirus Region, Greece. For the data collection we used semi-structured interviews, discussions and participatory observation. Specifically, the interviews were conducted on health professionals and more specifically doctors, nurses, rescuers, physiotherapists and administrative staff, working in covid-19 units at the University General Hospital of Ioannina (Reference hospital for Ioannina, in Epirus), which assists in the treatment of patients with covid-19, and in the branch of the rescue department of Ioannina.

The data were analysed in four thematic units based on their common characteristics: a) emotions and experiences of health professionals, b) interpersonal relations of health professionals, c) social exclusion and discrimination, and d) health professionals as patients. The results showed that the main emotions that health professionals experienced when they were moved to covid-19 clinics were fear, anxiety, distress, anger and insecurity. These feelings worsened when their family environment treated them with fear and hesitancy. Their social environment tended to avoid them, leading to a state of self-isolation. To conclude, health professionals faced discriminating behaviors and stigma both from their families and social environment, and from other health professionals. The government struggled to handle the situation in keeping a balance between both the security and well-being of health professionals as it was not prepared for a pandemic like this.