Understanding the Experiences of Caretakers who Lost their Loved Ones to COVID-19

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to understand the experiences of family members who lost their loved ones to COVID-19 in India. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants for the study. The sample was selected from Delhi/NCR and Aligarh. 9 participants took part in the investigation. To gather the data for the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. 6 themes and 16 sub-themes emerged from the data. The main themes and sub-themes were Hospital (attitude of the doctors, difficulty in getting a bed, lack of resources, regret about taking the patient to the hospital), Loneliness (patient felt lonely at the hospital, loneliness of the caretaker), Support (no support received, support received from immediate family members), Challenges (unusual times, not being able to meet the patient in the final moments, burial, black marketing), Technology (negative effect of social media, use of technology to connect with others), Effect on life (effect on mental health and physical health, grief and coping). The current study gave an understanding of the problems and challenges faced by participants during the first and second wave of COVID-19 in India.