IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v366y2025ics0277953624010578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Medical ambivalence and Long Covid: The disconnects, entanglements, and productivities shaping ethnic minority experiences in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Ridge, Damien T.
  • Broom, Alex
  • Alwan, Nisreen A.
  • Chew-Graham, Carolyn A.
  • Smyth, Nina
  • Gopal, Dipesh
  • Kingstone, Tom
  • Gaszczyk, Patrycia
  • Begum, Samina

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ridge, Damien T. & Broom, Alex & Alwan, Nisreen A. & Chew-Graham, Carolyn A. & Smyth, Nina & Gopal, Dipesh & Kingstone, Tom & Gaszczyk, Patrycia & Begum, Samina, 2025. "Medical ambivalence and Long Covid: The disconnects, entanglements, and productivities shaping ethnic minority experiences in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:366:y:2025:i:c:s0277953624010578
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624010578
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117603?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diana‐Lyn Baptiste & Nia A. Josiah & Kamila A. Alexander & Yvonne Commodore‐Mensah & Patty R. Wilson & Keilah Jacques & Debra Jackson, 2020. "Racial discrimination in health care: An “us” problem," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(23-24), pages 4415-4417, December.
    2. Callard, Felicity & Perego, Elisa, 2021. "How and why patients made Long Covid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Merrill Singer & Nicola Bulled, 2024. "Long Covid: A Syndemics Approach to Understanding and Response," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 811-834, April.
    2. Jacqueline A. Krysa & Sidney Horlick & Kiran Pohar Manhas & Katharina Kovacs Burns & Mikayla Buell & Maria J. Santana & Kristine Russell & Elizabeth Papathanassoglou & Chester Ho, 2023. "Accessing Care Services for Long COVID Sufferers in Alberta, Canada: A Random, Cross-Sectional Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Matthew Whitaker & Joshua Elliott & Marc Chadeau-Hyam & Steven Riley & Ara Darzi & Graham Cooke & Helen Ward & Paul Elliott, 2022. "Persistent COVID-19 symptoms in a community study of 606,434 people in England," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Daniel M. Altmann & Catherine J. Reynolds & George Joy & Ashley D. Otter & Joseph M. Gibbons & Corinna Pade & Leo Swadling & Mala K. Maini & Tim Brooks & Amanda Semper & Áine McKnight & Mahdad Noursad, 2023. "Persistent symptoms after COVID-19 are not associated with differential SARS-CoV-2 antibody or T cell immunity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Bojovic, Neva & Geiger, Susi, 2023. "Epistemic and institutional recognition work in changing conditions of social visibility: Anosmia's journey from the shadows to the spotlight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    6. Evan Xu & Yan Xie & Ziyad Al-Aly, 2023. "Long-term gastrointestinal outcomes of COVID-19," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Roth, Phillip H. & Gadebusch-Bondio, Mariacarla, 2022. "The contested meaning of “long COVID” – Patients, doctors, and the politics of subjective evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    8. Rohitash Chandra & Ayush Jain & Divyanshu Singh Chauhan, 2022. "Deep learning via LSTM models for COVID-19 infection forecasting in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-28, January.
    9. Kaplan, Kenton & Mendenhall, Emily, 2024. "Framing Long Covid through Patient activism in the United States: Patient, Provider, Academic, and Policymaker Views," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    10. Leoni-Johanna Speichert & Adam Schweda & Oliver Witzke & Margarethe Konik & Hana Rohn & Mark Stettner & Venja Musche & Klaas Herchert & Madeleine Fink & Sheila Geiger & Alexander Bäuerle & Eva-Maria S, 2022. "Fear of Death during COVID-19 Does Not Explain Post-Infection Depression Symptoms beyond Reported Symptoms during the Infection in COVID-19 Survivors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-10, October.
    11. Mullard, Jordan C.R. & Kawalek, Jessica & Parkin, Amy & Rayner, Clare & Mir, Ghazala & Sivan, Manoj & Greenhalgh, Trisha, 2023. "Towards evidence-based and inclusive models of peer support for long covid: A hermeneutic systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    12. Debra Jackson, 2021. "Handing over the reins: Looking back and looking forward," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3-4), pages 8-9, February.
    13. Turner, Melody & Beckwith, Helen & Spratt, Tanisha & Vallejos, Elvira Perez & Coughlan, Barry, 2023. "The #longcovid revolution: A reflexive thematic analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    14. Figueiredo, Bernardo & Sheahan, Jacob & Luo, Shiqi & Bird, Stephen & Wong Lit Wan, Dawn & Xenos, Sophia & Itsiopoulos, Catherine & Jessup, Rebecca & Zheng, Zhen, 2024. "Journey mapping long COVID: Agency and social support for long-hauling," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    15. Giuseppe Craparo & Valentina Lucia La Rosa & Elena Commodari & Graziella Marino & Michela Vezzoli & Palmira Faraci & Carmelo Mario Vicario & Gabriella Serena Cinà & Morena Colombi & Giuseppe Arcoleo &, 2022. "What Is the Role of Psychological Factors in Long COVID Syndrome? Latent Class Analysis in a Sample of Patients Recovered from COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Hiroshi Hoshijima & Takahiro Mihara & Hiroyuki Seki & Shunsuke Hyuga & Norifumi Kuratani & Toshiya Shiga, 2023. "Incidence of long-term post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection related to pain and other symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, November.
    17. Wild, Cervantée & MacLean, Alice & Nettleton, Sarah & Hunt, Kate & Ziebland, Sue, 2024. "The double invisibility of Long Covid in children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    18. Webb, Erin & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina & Williams, Gemma & Scarpetti, Giada & Reed, Sarah & Panteli, Dimitra, 2022. "Providing health services effectively during the first wave of COVID-19: A cross-country comparison on planning services, managing cases, and maintaining essential services," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(5), pages 382-390.
    19. Paul B. Perrin & Daniela Ramos-Usuga & Samuel J. West & Kritzia Merced & Daniel W. Klyce & Anthony H. Lequerica & Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa & Elisabet Alzueta & Fiona C. Baker & Stella Iacovides & Mar , 2022. "Network Analysis of Neurobehavioral Symptom Patterns in an International Sample of Spanish-Speakers with a History of COVID-19 and Controls," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Sætra, Henrik Skaug, 2022. "The ethics of trading privacy for security: The multifaceted effects of privacy on liberty and security," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:366:y:2025:i:c:s0277953624010578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.