JMIR Publications

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound global crisis, disrupting health, social structures, and emotional well-being. How communities experience such a crisis is deeply shaped by their cultural context, particularly in understanding illness, death, and mourning. In the Wolaita Zone of South Ethiopia, a region with rich socio-cultural and religious traditions the specific impact of these disruptions remains insufficiently explored.

Objective:

This study was aimed to explore the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of COVID-19 survivors and bereaved families in Wolaita Zone, South Ethiopia.

Methods:

An interpretive phenomenological design was used to explore the subjective experiences of seventeen participants: twelve COVID-19 survivors, two bereaved family members, and three individuals who were both. Participants were purposively selected via chain referral snowball sampling to ensure diverse, in-depth perspectives. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, guided by a tailored instrument, with rigorous measures to uphold the trustworthiness. Thematic analysis, facilitated by Dedoose software (v.10.0.35), involved data familiarization, coding, theme generation, and interpretation to uncover meaningful patterns.

Results:

Five major themes emerged: (1) Awareness and adaptive practices, revealing skepticism, supernatural attributions, practices for precautions, symptom experience and conspiracy beliefs; (2) Testing and isolation experiences, detailing quarantine struggles marked by fear, isolation, and stigma; (3) Multifaceted impact of COVID-19, encompassing social, health, psychological, economic, religious, and cultural losses, notably the disruption of traditional burial rites; (4) Community Resilience and coping strategies, highlighting cooperation ,traditional remedies and adaptability, and (5) Lessons for future preparedness. The findings revealed that participants initially perceived the pandemic as a form of 'divine wrath' or 'Satanic' intervention, leading to deep psychological distress. The term 'Gondooro' crystallized the unbearable grief tied to unperformed mourning rituals, amplifying cultural stigma and emotional suffering, while resilience shone through adaptive practices and calls for improved support systems. Forced isolation was described as a ‘double death’, where the fear of dying alone outweighed the fear of the virus itself.

Conclusions:

This study emphasizes the deep intersection of culture, religion, health, and the social implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the rural Ethiopian community. It highlights the emotional and social barriers to recovery that are shaped by cultural beliefs and stigma, particularly in the context of mourning and loss. The findings suggest that addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach, including public health education, psychological support, and efforts to reduce stigma.

Clinicaltrial: