College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arbaminch University, Arbaminch, Ethiopia.
Department of Psychology, School of Pedagogical and Behavioral Science, Arbaminch University, Arbaminch, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 30;17(9):e0275248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275248. eCollection 2022.
Ethiopia enforced extremely rigorous contact tracing and mandatory quarantine for all suspected contact and travelers entering the country for a period of 14-days duration during the early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak. Several studies investigated the experience of quarantined people because of COVID-19 or previous outbreaks. However, quarantine is often perceived differently in different cultures because of its historical association with class, gender, ethnicity, politics, and prejudices. To our knowledge, there is limited literature on quarantine experience in Ethiopia related to either COVID-19 or other infectious diseases. Therefore, this study was aimed to explore quarantine experience of people in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia during early phase of COVID-19 pandemic.
The study implemented an exploratory qualitative research design using a phenomenological approach. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with purposively recruited 29 respondents. Digitally recorded audio files have been listened to several times and verbatim transcriptions were done. The transcribed narratives were examined independently and content analysis was carried out through reading and re-reading the verbatim several times, open coding, grouping, categorizing, and abstracting the final themes.
Three broad themes were identified and characterized the experiences of quarantined people due to COVID-19. These themes were a) handling of the suspected person, b) adverse effects of quarantine and c) coping strategies. In addition, quarantine refusals; injustice in quarantine; quarantine errors; psychological distress; physiological changes; social effects; financial losses; personal and social coping strategies were the emerged sub-themes.
This study explored a range of complex experiences of quarantined people because of the COVID-19 outbreak in SNNPR. The quarantined people included in this study were adversely affected psychologically, physiologically, socially, and economically. They also experienced quarantine errors and injustice. There is a need to gather clear justification for close contact before forcing the suspect for mandatory quarantine. In addition, there is a need to develop risk communication strategy to approach suspected contacts for quarantine. Moreover, assessing psychological, physiological, social, and economic impacts of quarantine on the individuals while they are in quarantine and after release could be important. The use of personal and social coping strategies including psychosocial support may lessen the adverse impacts of the quarantine.
在 COVID-19 爆发的早期阶段，埃塞俄比亚对所有进入该国的疑似接触者和旅行者实施了极其严格的接触者追踪和强制性检疫，为期 14 天。有几项研究调查了因 COVID-19 或以前的疫情而被隔离的人的经历。然而，由于隔离在历史上与阶级、性别、种族、政治和偏见有关，因此不同文化对隔离的看法往往不同。据我们所知，关于埃塞俄比亚 COVID-19 或其他传染病的隔离经验的文献有限。因此，本研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 大流行早期时期埃塞俄比亚南部地区民族和人民地区（SNNPR）被隔离人员的隔离体验。
本研究采用现象学方法实施了探索性定性研究设计。通过有目的的招募，对 29 名受访者进行了面对面的深入访谈。数字记录的音频文件被多次收听，并完成了逐字记录。对转录的叙述进行了独立检查，并通过多次阅读和重读逐字记录、开放编码、分组、分类和抽象最终主题进行了内容分析。
确定并描述了 COVID-19 导致被隔离人员经历的三个广泛主题。这些主题是：a）处理疑似人员，b）隔离的不利影响，c）应对策略。此外，还出现了拒绝隔离；隔离不公；隔离错误；心理困扰；生理变化；社会影响；经济损失；个人和社会应对策略等子主题。
本研究探讨了 SNNPR 因 COVID-19 爆发而被隔离的人员所经历的一系列复杂经历。这项研究中的被隔离人员在心理、生理、社会和经济方面都受到了不利影响。他们还经历了隔离错误和不公正。在强制对嫌疑人进行强制检疫之前，需要为密切接触者收集明确的理由。此外，需要制定风险沟通策略，以便对隔离的疑似接触者进行隔离。此外，评估隔离对个人在隔离期间和释放后的心理、生理、社会和经济影响可能很重要。使用个人和社会应对策略，包括社会心理支持，可能会减轻隔离的不利影响。
