Özet:

The COVID-19 experience of medical professionals in Turkey is strongly determined by the absence of transparent networks to share or receive information, lack of administrative coordination and few channels for direct communication with the public. The Turkish Ministery of Health provides healthcare workers with no clear instructions on how to share pandemic-related data and the Ministery fails to make relevant public health decisions together with the active participation of medical experts working in healthcare facilities. How do these organisational and political shortcomings determine the attitudes, approaches and survival strategies of people in the daily homesetting? This qualitative study is structured around the narrative analysis of the lived experience of this group of mothers during the pandemic,where by the narratives most of all indicate a strong mistrust towards governmental authorities and private enterprises active in the provision of healthcare services. This attitude of mistrust is rooted in the actual conditions of increasing economic inequality in Turkey. The interview results indicate that a stronger cooperation and a more transparent exchange of information between government agencies and autonomous associations of medical professionals is needed to reduce fear and anxiety among the population and increase compliance to healthcare policies, especially during times of big scale public health emergencies.

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