The impact of social stigma on healthcare workers during Covid-19 pangamic: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Health care workers are indispensable to the delivery of care, and their routine interaction with patients determines the overall quality of health care services. Due to the dynamic nature of their working environment, health care professionals encounter significant challenges. Researchers have long recognised that care providers are at a greater risk of enduring social stigma and discrimination, especially during an outbreak, than other workers. COVID-19 is a disease that has caused considerable social and economic havoc across the world. While scholars have focused on understanding the infection, there is limited information concerning its role in aggravating social stigmatisation towards health care workers. Aims/Objectives: The aim of this paper was to review recent studies that evaluate social stigma among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine its potential impacts. Methods: A systematic review of original research on the social stigma of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. The reviewed articles were obtained from PubMed, Ovid/Medline, and Google Scholar. The following eligibility criteria were used to filter the studies. The requirements were that each article was peer-reviewed, written in English language, published from March 2020 onwards, and used health care workers (HCWs) as primary subjects or addressed the issue of social stigmatisation of HCWs. Studies from across the world that addressed the issue of interest were included in this analysis. Results: Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria. Most of these studies were conducted in various parts of the world to determine how COVID-19 has aggravated social stigma towards HCWs. Ninety percent of the studies affirmed that social stigmatisation of HCWs increased during the pandemic, whereas 10% argued that this phenomenon declined. The authors of 90% of the studies provided a discussion of the possible causes of COVID-19-related social stigma and 65% of the reviewed papers provided at least one recommendation to mitigate social stigma and the exclusion of HCWs. Discussion/Conclusion: Evidence shows that HCWs are subjected to higher levels of social stigma during the pandemic. While efforts are made to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, there is also a need to ensure that HCWs are not subjected to discrimination and social exclusion. Therefore, appropriate intervention measures should be implemented to mitigate undesirable outcomes for HCWs.