Medical ambivalence and Long Covid
The disconnects, entanglements, and productivities shaping ethnic minority experiences in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4589958 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Damien Ridge (0000-0001-9245-5958, University of Westminster), Alex Broom (0000-0003-1258-1140, The University of Sydney), Nisreen A Alwan (0000-0002-4134-8463, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust), Carolyn A Chew-Graham (0000-0002-9722-9981, Keele University), Nina Smyth (0000-0001-9047-6958, University of Westminster), Dipesh Gopal, Dipesh P Gopal (0000-0002-1787-7963, Queen Mary University of London), Tom Kingstone (0000-0001-9179-2303, Keele University), Patrycia Gaszczyk (University College London), Salina Begum (University of Westminster), Samina Begum (0000-0003-3296-5600) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 366 |
| Pages | 117603 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117603 |
| PMID | 39721163 |
| OpenAlex | W4405035258 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 47 |
Structural violence - related to 'isms' like racism, sexism, and ableism - pertains to the ways in which social institutions harm certain groups. Such violence is critical to institutional indifference to the plight of ethnic minority people living with long-term health conditions. With only emergent literature on the lived experiences of ethnic minorities with Long Covid, we sought to investigate experiences around the interplay of illness and structural vulnerabilities. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews with a range of UK-based participants of varying ethnic minorities, ages and socio-economic situations were undertaken online between June 2022 and June 2023. A constant comparison analysis was used to develop three over-arching themes: (1) Long Covid and social recognition; (2) The violence of medical ambivalence; and (3) Pathways to recognition and support. Findings showed that while professional recognition and support were possible, participants generally faced the spectre and deployment of a particular mode of structural violence, namely 'medical ambivalence'. The contours of medical ambivalence in the National Health Service (NHS) as an institution had consequences, including inducing or accentuating suffering via practices of care denial. Despite multiple structurally shaped ordeals (like healthcare, community stigma, and sexism), many participants were nevertheless able to gain recognition for their condition (e.g. online, religious communities). Participants with more resources were in the best position to 'cobble together' their own approaches to care and support, despite structural headwinds
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Ambivalence · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Ethnic group · Pandemic · Political science · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Anthropology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Social Psychology · Virology
The Stigma of self-report in health research
Co‐Creating Publicly Available Resources to Increase Awareness of and Support for Long Covid Among Ethnic Minority Communities
Intersectionality and Long Covid
Perceptions and Significance of Long Covid Diagnoses From the Perspectives of Children and Young People With Long Covid, Their Parents and Professionals
Rethinking Social Epidemiology
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Related to Covid-19
Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Status
Using Nvivo for Data Analysis in Qualitative Research
From Redistribution to Recognition?
Decolonising ideas of healing in medical education
Long covid and medical gaslighting
The Costs of Long Covid
How people of African Caribbean or Irish ethnicity cope with long‐term health conditions in UK community settings
Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Long Covid
Covid-19 as cultural trauma
The complexities of developing equal relationships in patient and public involvement in health research
Inviting intimacy
The administration of harm
Qualitative research
British national identity and life satisfaction in ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom
Racial discrimination and health
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Disrupting or reconfiguring racist narratives about Muslims? The representation of British Muslims during the Covid crisis
How and why patients made Long Covid
The contested meaning of "long Covid" - Patients, doctors, and the politics of subjective evidence
Long Covid - The illness narratives
The classification and nomenclature of 'medically unexplained symptoms
We just don't know
The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis
Grappling with the Medicated Self
Relational agency
Just One Thing after Another
An Anthropology of Structural Violence
"Lyme Disease and the Epistemic Tensions of "Medically Unexplained Illnesses
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |