Return from quarantine centre: narrative analysis of a mother

Abstract

The subsequent studies on the COVID-19 have been found to be multifaceted. Social science studies as a result of COVID-19 infection, its isolation, and its related restrictions are emerging at the nature of multidisciplinary beyond the researches on COVID-19 in the medical science perspectives. At present, the new various family issues are emerging due to COVID-19 and its related public health activities such as country locked down, travel restrictions, individual and family quarantine, work from home and e-learning methods for children. This study attempts to discuss the social consequences of COVID-19 quarantine practices on the family system through the family studies in Jaffna. The countries in all over the world have established and maintained various quarantine centers to control the spread of COVID-19 and provide better medical care to those infected. In Sri Lanka, various quarantine centers have been operating since the beginning of 2020. The families affected by COVID-19 are facing various socio-economic and psychological problems while the Sri Lankan government is providing free medical care and social support to COVID-19 victims. In this context, the study analyzes the socio-economic and psychological problems faced by families who have recently returned from the quarantine center maintained by the Government of Sri Lanka. This descriptive study adopted qualitative approach. The data for this study was collected through case studies and case stories conducted among the returnees from Kopay quarantine center of Jaffna and other quarantine centers in part of Sri Lanka. However, this study analyses the research problem predominantly through the narrative analysis of case history derived from a mother of family. Every single individual and family is living in fear that the COVID-19 infection will infect them. The experience gained through COVID-19 infection is unique. A person with a COVID-19 infection must be isolated in a hospital or quarantine center while his/her family is also isolated at home. The socioeconomic and psychological problems of an isolated person and his/her family during and after isolation are multifaceted. The study reveals socio-economic psychological issues that are deriving from the case story of a mother who has been infected by COVID-19, quarantined and rejoined with society. The study concludes that the COVID-19 infection and its subsequent isolation increase the socio-economic burden on families and create psychological issues such as social fear and stigma. People can protect themselves from these kinds of problems only when they follow the health practices imposed by the government against the COVID-19.