The Problems of Patients With Muscular Dystrophy in Accessing Health Services During the COVID-19 Process and Solution Proposals: a Qualitative Research

Purpose: It is aimed to reveal the problems experienced by patients with Muscular Dystrophy (MD) in accessing health services during the COVID-19 process and solutions for these problems.Methods: The research is a qualitative study. The participants were reached with the snowball sampling method, and since they were in the pandemic process, the problems they experienced were tried to be revealed by providing access via online methods.Results: Participants are mostly male. Half of the participants are married, and half are single. Participants mostly have a primary education level. Most of the participants do not work. Participants primarily reside in the city center. In addition, nearly half of the participants declared that their income is below 2000TL. Conclusion: In this study, some significant findings of the pandemic regarding MD patients' feelings and thoughts about their life practices, treatments, and access to health services they need for the disease were revealed. Patients with MD stated that they could not easily access the health services they wanted and needed due to muscle weakness. In their opinion, one of the most important reasons for this situation is that the treatments they need are not available in every hospital, or they cannot access them due to their financial and social problems. Another reason pointed out is that the health workers in the family physicians and primary health care institutions they are closest to do not have information about their diseases.