ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many individuals, including midwives. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the Indonesian midwives' psychological well-being and to investigate their coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This qualitative study investigated 10 midwives, from 9 provinces in Indonesia, who provided care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted. Prior to the interviews, an online survey was distributed to identify potential participants. The interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: This study summarized the midwives' psychological distress and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, categorizing the information into four themes and fourteen subthemes: (a) "I am worried," (b) professional and personal responsibilities, (c) coping strategies, and (d) policy and expectations were the main themes emerged. Conclusions: Midwives experienced challenging situations that negatively affected their psychological state, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The biopsychosocial and cultural contexts influenced the midwives' psychological well-being and coping strategies. Midwives should be empowered to prevent and manage their psychological distress, as well as their patients' concerns, during this unprecedented period.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced States to promulgate various legal policies to restrain public activities, including limiting or prohibiting people to exercise their right to religious freedom or beliefs (FoRB) in the public sphere and imposing repressive sanctions. International Human Rights Law (IHRL) regulates the standard limitation of FoRB, but the Government of Indonesia struggled to balance respecting FoRB and protecting public health, especially in the emergency of Covid-19. While the Government is oriented to protect public health, new violations of FORB add more backlog on unresolved cases. Through a Human Rights-Based Approach and case studies, three essential principles of FoRB, namely the principle of non-discrimination, the principle of proportional restriction, and the principle of non-coercion in religion, will be analyzed qualitatively to assess, first, the extent to which legal policies in Indonesia amid Covid-19 are compatible with IHRL. Second, the extent to which these legal policies impact the right to religious freedom of the people. Third, to ask the question: how should the legal policies in the Covid-19 era be formulated so that the State can balance the protection of public health and religious freedom? © University of Jember & Indonesian Consortium for Human Rights Lecturers.