Perspectives of Brazilians during the Covid-19 pandemic: an analysis of self-care and environmental bioethics

ABSTRACT

In a crisis situation, such as epidemic outbreaks, self-care can be compromised by conflicts related to everyday experiences. Our goal was to distinguish the perspectives on the experiences of the Brazilian population in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic considering its opinion given in an online survey, a cross-sectional investigation of hybrid strategy. The analysis of the 525 participations, which took place in June 2020, identified experiences seen at the apex of the pandemic in Brazil in three vectors: emotional involvement with causes, consequences and behaviors related to Covid-19; the negative and positive implications of social distancing; and the impacts, individual and collective, of this measure of social distancing. The Covid-19 pandemic was mainly associated with the consequences of social isolation and the feelings related to them, with conflicting negative and positive feelings. Although the participants did not spontaneously list questions about environment and self-care, they positioned themselves satisfactorily when directed to reflect on these issues, making it possible to identify the transposition of the negative aspects of the quarantine associated with the individual and physical context, to positive aspects related to the emotional and collective aspects. The analysis of the respondents’ perspectives on these topics should be part of the agenda of the environmental bioethics, since personal and everyday decisions on how to promote self-care insert it into a chain of global responsibilities and interdependencies.

KEYWORDS
Coronavirus; Environmental bioethics; Global bioethics; Global health; Sustainability