Being a Female Domestic Worker During the Pandemic Period from the Hope Perspective

Abstract

Pandemic processes are important factors triggering the changes in the psychological and sociological structure of society. The COVID-19 outbreak has embodied many variables affecting people's lives in several terms in Turkey as in the whole world. People have appeared to face many psychosocial and economic difficulties due to the social and economic conditions changing with the pandemic period. During this period, domestic workers are the first people who experience these problems in multiple ways. Hope is an important concept in terms of protecting and improving the well-being of domestic worker women who have serious problems in terms of social security, social relations and economic income. Therefore, this research aims at examining the hope mechanisms developed by female domestic workers against the difficulties they experience during the pandemic period between March-June 2020. As it known, hope increases the well-being of people. 15 female domestic workers participated in the research, which was designed in a descriptive phenomenological pattern. The analyses obtained as a result of the interviews held with the female domestic workers revealed that the findings were related to the themes of sources of hope and adaptation process during the pandemic. When the sources of motivation in the structuring of hope are reviewed, it is noteworthy that they are divided into the subthemes of social and inner sources. Considering the relationship of hope with the adaptation to the pandemic period, on the other hand, the subthemes of efforts on reducing concerns, rearrangement of the financial life and view of the future come to the fore.