Evolving Vulnerabilities Among COVID-19 Survivors in Rural India: Lived Experiences and the Challenge of Adaptive Social Work and Policy Responses

Abstract

 The COVID-19 pandemic has both exposed and deepened structural inequalities worldwide. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of COVID-19 survivors from rural Southwest India, who were impacted by the unavailability of formal social work support and inadequate welfare infrastructure. A purposive sample of twelve individuals experiencing intersecting social, economic, and gender-based vulnerabilities was selected. Thematic analysis revealed how the pandemic shaped experiences across multiple dimensions, including health, income, caregiving roles and responsibilities, institutional interactions and support, and social relationships. The findings highlight that existing frameworks for crisis response and social protection often fail to account for lived experiences stemming from the effects of dynamic vulnerability. While anchored in a specific rural Indian context, the findings contribute to broader international debates on structural vulnerability, pandemic-induced precarity, and the imperative of adaptive social work.