Experiences of Elderly’s COVID-19: A Qualitative Study in the Case of Hatay

Abstract

With the development of technology, pandemics have become global in the twenty-first century. The speed in communication and transportation has increased in recent years, and the COVID-19 disease experienced today has become the most devastating pandemic of this century. During this period, the elderly were named as the risk group. In addition, various social and political attitudes towards the elderly have emerged. When all these are evaluated together, it can be said that we are faced with a new social fact. Starting from this, the present study tries to understand this new phenomenon from the elders' own experiences. The study is a qualitative study to explore the economic, cultural, social, psychological and family relationships and spatial perceptions of the elderly aged 60 and over who have recovered from COVID-19 disease before, during and after the illness. In this direction, by using purposeful sampling and snowball sampling together, a total of 10 people aged between 60 and 75 living in Hatay were reached. As a result, it was seen that the themes of fear and social pressure became the most distinct themes Besides these, internalized stigma was another prominent theme.