Uncertainty and agency in COVID-19 hotel quarantine in Australia.

Autor:	Williams J; Sydney Health Ethics, The University of Sydney, Australia., Gilbert G; Sydney Health Ethics, The University of Sydney, Australia.; Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, The University of Sydney, Australia., Dawson A; Sydney Health Ethics, The University of Sydney, Australia.; Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, The University of Sydney, Australia., Kaldor J; Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia., Hendrickx D; Wesfarmer's Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia., Haire B; Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales; Australian Human Rights Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	SSM. Qualitative research in health [SSM Qual Res Health] 2022 Dec; Vol. 2, pp. 100034. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Dec 16.
DOI:	10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100034
Abstrakt:	Mandatory 14-day hotel COVID-19 quarantine was introduced for international arrivals into Australia in late March 2020, with no precedent and little time to prepare. This public health initiative was a key factor in Australia's relatively low COVID-19 burden in the first 18 months of the pandemic. We conducted an empirical bioethics study exploring the experience of people who had quarantined in hotels in Australia. We used in depth interviews to develop an understanding of context and normative analysis to consider whether the way the program is conducted is ethically justifiable. 58 people participated; they had been in hotel quarantine in different parts of Australia in the period March 2020-January 2021. Participants faced considerable uncertainty while in quarantine and many experienced this as burdensome. Some uncertainty resulted from not being given information about key aspects of quarantine, some from rules that changed frequently or were otherwise inconsistent, some from being physically isolated. Lack of information and uncertainty contributed to diminished agency. Communication efforts made by individual hotels was well received. Earlier ethics literature about quarantine does not take into account the context our participants described, where the hotel and supervision arrangements were central to the experience. We argue that more suitable arrangements must be made if quarantine is to be an ongoing proposition. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. (© 2021 The Authors.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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