Abstract
Purpose: We aimed to describe the experiences of Chinese citizens who returned home during the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 infection experiences they had in China. A further aim was to explore health inequalities in healthcare and access to services as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design: This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with 20 participants with confirmed COVID-19 upon returning to China.
Methods: Purposively sampled participants were recruited from a COVID-19 designated facility in Shanghai, China, from June to July 2020. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted and a thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data.
Findings: Three main themes emerged from the interview study: access to services, COVID-19-related health care, and COVID-19-related stigma and discrimination. Regarding access to services, participants shared their experience of school closures and community shutdowns, and the difficulties encountered during their journey home to China. Regarding their experience with COVID-19-related health care, participants shared their experiences in foreign environments and access to COVID-19 care in China. In addition to experiencing discrimination overseas, similar discrimination from their networks in China was encountered by the study participants.
Conclusions: Participants experienced health inequalities in accessing healthcare services and nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic and experienced stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19. Future studies should focus on developing culturally sensitive interventions to decrease public discrimination and provide suggestions to government policy makers on how to mount a public policy response during epidemics that does not increase health inequalities.