AUTHOR=Kang Jiyeon , Kim Hyang Soo , Yi Hyun Ji , Lee Yesung , Lee So Hee , Song Kyoung-Ho , Park Hye Yeon , Oh Hong Sang , Yoon Doran , Choe Pyoeng Gyun , Lee Eun Joo , Choi Chi-Hyun , Sim Minyoung , Yu Eun-Seung , Paik Jong-Woo , Park Hye Yoon 

TITLE=Causing trouble and being transmissible: COVID-19 survivors’ experiences of stigma and discrimination in South Korea

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1103572

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1103572

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=The stigma associated with COVID-19 is still relatively neglected in policies for handling the disease. Stigmatization occurs only within specific social contexts in local societies. Conducting semi-structured interviews, this study aims to examine COVID-19 survivors’ experiences of social stigma and discrimination in South Korea in the first two years of the pandemic. Of 52 participants, 45 reported that they had to cope with stigma and discrimination in their intimate social relationships, workplaces, and children’s schools, ranging from subtle actions to job loss. Sexual minorities who were involved in mass disease transmission in the early part of the pandemic experienced a higher level of stigmatization. The stigmatization dealt with in this study was related to two themes: survivors’ sense of causing trouble and possibility of transmission. By intertwining this stigma with the experiences of public health measures through the voices of survivors, this study reveals the local context of East Asia in terms of culture-specific aspects of COVID-19-related stigma.