Significant Other Family Members and Their Experiences of COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Qualitative Study With Implications for Social Policy

Abstract

To the best of our knowledge, there is no research about the challenges faced by significant others of coronavirus patients in Pakistan, including spouses, children, siblings, and parents. We aimed to discover through an open-ended semistructured questionnaire the main challenges and coping strategies of significant others since the time their relative have been tested positive for coronavirus and taken to quarantine or admitted to the hospital. Sampling was done using contact information from three hospitals of Lahore with the largest quarantine facilities for COVID-19 patients. We used NVIVO to analyze the interviews of 20 participants through content analysis approach. The findings included three broad themes of experiences of stigma, struggles, and strengths and a total of 9, 6, and 8 sub-themes under each theme, respectively. We conclude with key social policy recommendations to supportfamiliesofcoronavirus-infected people through salient areas of criminalization laws, therapy and counseling, surveillance and monitoring, employee protection, and accountability of government, health workers, and police.