The TÜBİTAK project titled “Experiences of Filiation Teams in Istanbul during the Covid-19 Pandemic Process: A Multidisciplinary Phenomenological Research” conducted by Asst. Prof. Ayşe POLAT, a faculty member of our Sociology Department, has been completed. Res. Asst. PhD Zübeyde DEMIRCIOĞLU from the Department of Sociology and Asst. Prof. Hüseyin KÜÇÜKALI from Istanbul Medipol University took part in the project as researchers.
As part of the project, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 people who work as doctors, assistant health personnel, coordinators, and drivers in the filiation teams in two districts of Istanbul. These meetings focused on what filiation is, its stages, and its process. At the same time, objective findings of the filiation process and the teams were revealed by discussing how the filiation teams were organized, who they were composed of, and how they worked. In addition, how the team members subjectively experienced filiation was examined.
Asst. Prof. Ayşe POLAT and Res. Asst. PhD Zübeyde DEMIRCIOĞLU from the project team shared the project outputs at the “Research Agenda” event held by the Department of Sociology of our University on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. They presented an evaluation of the project methodology and findings and noted that while the teams generally saw filiation as a very effective and meaningful method in the fight against the pandemic, it was also seen that the doctors in particular found the way they were assigned to the teams inefficiently in this process. It was concluded that taking part in the filiation teams affected the individual, physical and mental well-being of health workers. It was determined that intensive working conditions and fear of contagion negatively affected the relationships of the filiation teams with their families. While some of the healthcare professionals saw taking part in the filiation as a significant role in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic and expressed their pride in this task, some of them stated that they experienced professional burnout and loss of sense, and interpreted this process as incorrect use of resources.
