Families adapting to COVID-19 in urban Bangladesh: “It felt like the sky fell apart and we were in shock”

Abstract

BackgroundThe COVID-19 epidemic has especially impacted the urban population in Bangladesh. Studies on COVID-19 have primarily focused on the patient’s perspective. It is important to understand the experience of family members who adopt caregiving roles, as the experience of COVID-19 also impacts, and is impacted by, household members. This study aimed to explore the challenges, preventative practices, health-seeking behaviour, and perspectives of navigating the health care system from the perspective of family members of persons who had recovered from COVID-19 during its initial outbreak in Bangladesh.MethodsParticipants of this qualitative study were family members (n = 7) of persons who had recovered from COVID-19 (either suspected or confirmed). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted over telephone. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.ResultsAnalysis revealed three key themes: changes in everyday practices and choice of health care, challenges and constraints, and unexpected positive outcomes. All the themes had temporal dimension to them with four distinct phases: early stage of COVID-19, strict lockdown phase, COVID-19 diagnosis and illness period and post COVID-19 recovery.ConclusionThe importance of maintaining social contact for psychological wellbeing during critical times was evident in the study. Online communication and social media enabled participants to remain ‘socially connected’ which further supported their mental health. Increased attention to hygiene practices both before, during and subsequent to COVID-19 infections within families was reported. Physical distancing in case of a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case was found logistically and socially impractical in a densely populated city.

Exploring Varied Experiences of Three Stakeholders of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The analysis of the data of the three studies 11–13 revealed four key categories presented in Table 2 : a) varied challenges and family realities, b) accepting risks, c) support, and d) unexpected positive outcomes.…”

“…The study on family caregivers (conducted during July-August 2020) comprised seven family members of individuals who had recovered from COVID-19. 11 The study on frontline health workers (conducted during July–August 2020) explored experience of 18 healthcare professionals from different health intervention including hospital, home-based caregiving facility and health information hotline facility. 12 The study on recovered patients (conducted during October–November 2021) includes 14 individuals.…”

“…The paper is based on secondary analyses of three studies 11–13 previously conducted. Due to the non-invasive nature of the primary data, it did not require formal ethical approval.…”