Representations of Disease in Home Environments
GABRIELA CARMEN LĂZĂREANUABSTRACT. Mental and social attitudes towards the sick have varied from one society to another, and patients were initially marginalized in their position of persons to be cared for by other individuals. In time, the disease and the patient were seen differently especially by the personnel who helped cure the suffering people. From a Christian perspective, we have as an example the suffering of Job, who, “struck by leprosy” and expelled from the community, was under suspicion even by his fellow citizens and friends that he was guilty of some sins because God had punished him. In Christian faith, disease is considered to be the cause of human sins. In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic that, unlike other pandemics, has spread in large geographical areas, two things are to be found: neighborly love, reflected through volunteering and charity, selfishness and malice. Research conducted in a homogeneous group of individuals aged between 22 and 62 in urban and rural areas showed that the perception of changes in the home environments is higher in men compared to women. Regarding the change of daily activity, the higher percentage was registered by women. Also, higher scores were recorded by women in terms of the priority of the altered activities – 100% for women and 78% for men. Such registered changes depend on rural or urban backgrounds. Our research, based on the structured interview as working tools, was conducted in the form of a quantitative analysis.
Keywords: Pandemic; disease; daily activities; domestic space; individual behavior; Christian Perspective