Theme Category Meaning units Sample statements
Fear and rejection
Fear and distance The unpleasant feeling of rejection The continuation of rejection Extreme fear Distancing of strangers Distancing of colleagues Distancing of hospital personnel Feeling distant from family members Feeling rejected by colleagues Fear and hope of those around you Rejection of rural laborers Continuation of fear and distancing among colleagues Continuation of fear among friends In the first wave, people had extreme fear and stress about COVID-19 and assumed that whoever acquired it would die. Everyone distanced themselves from me as soon as my test returned positive. I told a woman on the bus that I might be afflicted, and she immediately pulled herself away from me. I saw my colleagues moving away from me in the dressing room as if I was dirty. I went to a general hospital and as soon as I said that I might be afflicted, the nurses ordered me to leave and visit a COVID-19 hospital. You feel like you have to leave since your family is afraid of you. It’s a unique feeling; you realize you have to distance yourself. You feel like they are afraid of you yet they also want to help you. Their view was that rural workers who commute from their homes should not enter the factory. I returned to the hospital after 21 days, but everyone was still moving away from me. Even now that a year has passed, I jokingly or seriously tell any of my colleagues who go on trips across cities that I wish they had not returned immediately to work; we are still really scared. I returned to work after two weeks, but I saw that my colleagues would become scared when they came near to me, and this was not pleasant.
Discrimination
Occupational Familial Social Loss of employment; forced leave; fear of getting fired. Neglection of the patient, indifference, and/or discrimination by the family, Verbal indifference, social distance, and physical distance, I went for a job interview. The employer asked me to pull my mask down. I said that I am suspicious [for COVID-19]. He asked what I was doing there! The employer would immediately send those who were suspicious on leave. The workers were afraid even to cough. Nobody paid attention to me; I took care of myself. The family did not say anything but I felt they were paying more attention to other members. When I got sick, my family left me and went to their village, but they called me and said that I should not leave the room at all. Even my mother would not let me out of the room, and I was coughing very badly and was short of breath. I was constantly in tears because of their behavior. In the factory, people who have passed the disease course are ignored. The expectation is that we should never come back to the workplace. We are ignored and others distance themselves from us. On the bus, I told a lady to keep her distance because I was suspicious. After my affliction, I saw our neighbors pass by us very quickly while ignoring us.
Loneliness
Loss of psychosocial support Self-disgust Loneliness Feeling forgotten Distancing of the closest relatives Feeling bad Feeling danger from the disease Feeling dirty Lack of establishing communications Feeling lonely Experiencing the reality of loneliness I felt that everything about love and affection was lies and I felt severely left out. Not even my brother came to visit me. It’s an unpleasant feeling – as if you have HIV or plague. I said: “do I have leprosy?!” Among the workers, if someone tested positive it was like they had al11Mythological demons of childbirth that interfere with reproduction.. I felt dirty; it gave me a very bad feeling You see that you cannot have a relationship with anyone We were quarantined and felt introverted and lonely My sister called and told me not to leave my room It was very difficult to be alone and away from my wife and children. During the quarantine, you are completely lonely and all you have is your thoughts and imagination.