Spirituality and COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative inquiry of real time experiences in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Many individuals are now reflecting on spirituality and religiosity being essential parts of their life that helped them cope and overcome the fears associated with COVID-19 during the quarantine period. Although medical interventions remained vital in managing the COVID-19 outbreak, little attention was given to the contributions of spirituality as a personal coping mechanism in South Asian culture. Through a qualitative descriptive exploratory approach, we explored the roles which spirituality and faith played in lives of COVID-19 patients and their families during the quarantine period in Karachi, Pakistan. Twenty-two dyads of COVID-19 patients and their family members were purposively selected and interviewed via telephone or Zoom. Quarantine was a reflective opportunity to focus on one’s inner-self and make spiritual connection or re-connection with God. Participants felt the pandemic reminded them that humanity must come closer, act as one household, and extend help to each other. However, there were conflicting views regarding the impacts of spirituality and religiosity during the restrictions and quarantine period.

KEYWORDS:

• Spirituality
• Religiosity
• COVID-19
• Corona
• Quarantine
• Coping

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [Rubina Barolia], [Khairulnissa Ajani] and [Pammla Petrucka]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [Sajid Iqbal] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Review Committee of the Aga Khan University (Date. September 4, 2020/No. 2020-4789-14068).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent to publish

The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of all the relevant data.

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Rubina Barolia

Rubina Barolia has done her PhD in nursing from the University of Alberta, Canada. She is Ahmed Shivji Endowed Associate Professor & Assistant Dean, Clinical Practice at Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Khairulnissa Ajani

Khairulnissa Ajani has done her PhD in nursing from Aga Khan University. She is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean, Teaching Learning and Undergraduate Programmes at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan.

Sajid Iqbal

Sajid Iqbal has done his PhD (nursing) dissertation at Age Khan University and soon will defend his research work to step towards completion of his doctoral degree.

Muhammad Abdullah

Muhammad Abdullah is an MSN graduate of Aga Khan University and currently working as an Assistant professor at AIMS College of Nursing, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Sumera Danish

Suemera Danish is an MSN graduate of the Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Sehrish Sajjad

Sehrish Sajad is a PhD (nursing) student at Aga Khan University. She works as senior instructor at the Aga Khan University.

Ambreen Gowani

Ambreen Gowani is PhD (nursing) student at the University of Alberta. She works as a senior instructor at the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Mehak Barolia

Mehak Barolia is MBBS student at Medical College, Aga Khan University. She has an interest in scholarly activities and has exposure of saveral research projects and writeups.

Pammla Petrucka

Pammla Petrucka is a PhD (Nursing) graduate from the University of Alberta, Canada. Full Professor, Tenured, 2012-present, College of Nursing. Interim Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies, August 2021- December 2022, College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.