Frontiers in Psychiatry (Mar 2023)

Causing trouble and being transmissible: COVID-19 survivors’ experiences of stigma and discrimination in South Korea

  • Jiyeon Kang,
  • Hyang Soo Kim,
  • Hyun Ji Yi,
  • Yesung Lee,
  • So Hee Lee,
  • Kyoung-Ho Song,
  • Hye Yeon Park,
  • Hong Sang Oh,
  • Doran Yoon,
  • Pyoeng Gyun Choe,
  • Eun Joo Lee,
  • Chi-Hyun Choi,
  • Minyoung Sim,
  • Eun-Seung Yu,
  • Jong-Woo Paik,
  • Hye Yoon Park

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1103572
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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BackgroundThe stigma associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is relatively neglected in policies for handling the disease. Stigmatization occurs only within specific social contexts in local societies.ObjectiveThis study aims to examine COVID-19 survivors’ experiences of social stigma and discrimination in South Korea in the first 2 years of the pandemic.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted.ResultsOf 52 participants, 45 reported that they had to cope with stigma and discrimination in their intimate social relationships, workplaces, and children’s schools, ranging from subtle actions to job loss. Sexual minorities who were involved in mass disease transmission in the early part of the pandemic experienced a higher level of stigmatization. The stigmatization dealt with in this study was related to two themes: survivors’ sense of causing trouble and possibility of transmission.ConclusionBy intertwining this stigma with the experiences of public health measures through the voices of survivors, this study reveals the local context of East Asia in terms of culture-specific aspects of COVID-19-related stigma.

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