Sofrimento psíquico e vulnerabilidade social em trabalhadores com Covid Longa

Abstract

Introduction: The Long Covid is characterized by multisystemic changes and symptoms that affect for weeks, months or even years, a significant contingent of people affected by the new coronavirus (sars-cov-2) after recovery from the acute phase. Despite this, national and international literature on the subject is still incipient, especially on damage to the mental health and social vulnerability of workers affected by the disease. Objective: To understand the psychic impacts of Covid Longa and the social vulnerability of workers monitored at a public clinic in Salvador-Bahia. Methodology: In this qualitative, analytical-descriptive study, between April and June 2022, eleven workers with Covid Longa were interviewed, whose narratives were analyzed in the light of the hermeneutic-dialectics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and other theories of the Social and Human Sciences in Health, especially from a gender perspective. Results: The research showed that the psychological distress of workers arose or was intensified after the experience of illness due to Covid-19, there is a fear of returning to work due to the sequelae of Covid Long, as well as confirming the relationship between illness due to Covid Long and the social vulnerability of workers due to precarious employment relationships. In addition, it revealed an intensification of the feminization of care in the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in an overload of women. Final considerations: The study contributed to revealing the urgency of recognizing the impacts of Covid Longa on the socio-professional life of workers, such as the obstacle to returning to work and the aggravation of processes of gender, race and class oppression. It is also hoped that the results of this research will contribute to the development of actions and policies of social support, of psychosocial care for survivors of the pandemic and may raise the recognition of the need for reparation for those who live with sequelae in their mental health and vulnerability resulting from the Covid Long. It is clear, therefore, that Brazil needs an urgent Action Plan for an effective response to the problem, still unexplored by the three spheres of government.