COVID , communication and care homes (original) (raw)
Related papers
2021
An important part of care home life is the support given to older residents by their families/friends through regular visiting. Social visits to residents by their families ceased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and residents were confined to their rooms. This paper reports on how care home staff improvised to address this situation during the first wave of the pandemic. It focuses on steps taken to maintain communication between residents and families to support emotional well-being. We undertook in-depth cafe-style interviews with twenty-one staff to explore creative practices that they introduced. It was part of a wider Scottish study examining the effect of lockdown on families whose relative was living/dying in a care home (May–October, 2020). Findings reveal the enormous effort by care staff to maintain family connections and the rapid acclimatisation involved working with a number of different on-line platforms, the pulling together of staff from across the care home, an...
Safer Communities, 2021
Purpose-This paper aims to explore 15 UK adult social care workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach-This paper's 15 open-ended interviews with adult social care workers are complemented by digital ethnography in COVID-19 social media forums. This data set is taken from a global mixed-methods study, involving over 2,000 participants from 59 different countries. Findings-Workers reported a lack of planning, guidance and basic provisions including personal protective equipment. Work intensification brought stress, workload pressure and mental health problems. Family difficulties and challenges of living through the pandemic, often related to government restrictions, intensified these working conditions with precarious living arrangements. The workers also relayed a myriad of challenges for their residents in which, the circumstances appear to have exacerbated dementia and general health problems including dehydration, delirium and loneliness. Whilst COVID-19 was seen as partially responsible for resident deaths, the sudden disruptions to daily life and prohibitions on family visits were identified as additional contributing factors in rapid and sudden decline. Research limitations/implications-Whilst the paper's sample cohort is small, given the significance of COVID-19 at this present time the findings shed important light on the care home experience as well as act as a baseline for future study. Social implications-Care homes bore the brunt of illness and death during the first and second COVID-19 waves in the UK, and many of the problems identified here have still yet to be actioned by the government. As people approach the summer months, an urgent review is required of what happened in care homes and this paper could act as some part of that evidence gathering. Originality/value-This paper offers revealing insights from frontline care home workers and thus provides an empirical snapshot during this unique phase in recent history. It also builds upon the preliminary/emerging qualitative research evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted care homes, care workers and the residents.
Good Care during COVID-19: A Narrative Approach to Care Home Staff’s Experiences of the Pandemic
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022
Due to its major impact on Dutch care homes for older people, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented care staff with unprecedented challenges. Studies investigating the experiences of care staff during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown its negative impact on their wellbeing. We aimed to supplement this knowledge by taking a narrative approach. We drew upon 424 personal narratives written by care staff during their work in a Dutch care home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, our results show that care staff have a relational-moral approach to good care. Residents’ wellbeing is their main focus, which they try to achieve through personal relationships within the triad of care staff–resident–significant others (SOs). Secondly, our results indicate that caregivers experience the COVID-19 mitigation measures as obstructions to relational-moral good care, as they limit residents’ wellbeing, damage the triadic care staff–residents–SOs relationship and leave no room for dialogue about good ...
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement
Background During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, long-term care homes (LTCHs) imposed visitor restrictions that prevented essential family caregivers (EFCs) from entering the homes. Under these policies, EFCs had to engage in virtual, window, and outdoor visits, prior to the re-initiation of indoor visits. Objective To understand EFCs’ visitation experiences with LTCH residents during COVID-19. Methods Seven virtual focus groups with EFCs were conducted and analysed using a thematic approach. Findings Six themes were identified: (a) inconsistent and poor communication; (b) lack of staffing and resources; (c) increasing discord between EFCs and staff during COVID-19; (d) shock related to reunification; (e) lack of a person-centred or family-centred approach; and, (f) EFC and resident relationships as collateral damage. Discussion Our findings reflect how EFCs’ visitation experiences were affected by factors at the individual, LTCH, and health-system levels. Future sectoral resp...
BMC Geriatrics, 2021
Background From late February 2020, English care homes rapidly adapted their practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to accommodating new guidelines and policies, staff had to adjust to rapid reconfiguration of services external to the home that they would normally depend upon for support. This study examined the complex interdependencies of support as staff responded to COVID-19. The aim was to inform more effective responses to the ongoing pandemic, and to improve understanding of how to work with care home staff and organisations after the pandemic has passed. Methods Ten managers of registered care homes in the East Midlands of England were interviewed by videoconference or phone about their experiences of the crisis from a structured organisational perspective. Analysis used an adapted organisational framework analysis approach with a focus on social ties and interdependencies between organisations and individuals. Results Three key groups of interdependenci...
Journal of Nursing Management, 2022
Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the COVID-19 pandemic as it was experienced by people on the front line in residential care settings for older people in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionate effect in residential care settings for older people in Ireland. Methods: A two-phased mixed methods study was conducted, consisting of an online survey administered shortly after the first wave of the virus to staff, residents and family members and one-to-one interviews with family members shortly after wave 2 of the virus. Results: Isolation, loss of connectedness as well as a reduction in the level/quality of care provision led to significant adverse impacts for both residents and their families. Staff reported high levels of stress, trauma and burnout. Family input to care was suspended, with adverse consequences. Conclusion: The pandemic had an extremely adverse impact on residents, family members and staff in care settings for older people. Implications for Nursing Management: Strategies to ensure that residents' physical, emotional and social needs and staffs' professional and personal needs are appropriately supported during future waves of the pandemic should now be implemented.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The COVID-19 pandemic and the need to stem the transmission and protect the most vulnerable in society led to infection control restrictions effectively locking down an entire country. These restrictions were also imposed on residential care settings for older people, initially in March 2020, and subsequently at varying times throughout the year that followed. Furthermore, the restrictions led to the suspension in all visiting to residents expect in exceptional circumstances and on compassionate grounds. The purpose of this research study was to develop an understanding of the experience of residents, their families, and carers in an Irish residential care setting during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data were collected in a residential care centre for older people in Ireland, using semi-structured interviews of residents, family members and staff. Interviews were conducted in person for residents and virtually for family members and staff. In total 29 people were interviewed. Data were an...
2020
THE COST OF SEPARATION the impact of visiting restrictions on families of care home residents during COVID-19 WHY THIS MATTERS Families with relatives in care homes have been separated during COVID-19: to protect lives, protect the NHS and reduce the spread of the virus. However, this has resulted in significant harm, and unintended consequences, with them disproportionately affected. Restrictions at the time of writing have lasted nine months. Our research, carried out between May and October 2020, focuses on the impact of this on family carers with older relatives in Scottish care homes: the partners, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, close friends or family members with primary caring responsibilities. Drawing on the evidence, it makes recommendations to reduce harm, reconnect families and recognise them as essential partners in care. Learning from their experiences, it also draws out lessons for the future, to 'build back better' and prevent this from happening again.
2020
Context: The work presented in this paper was undertaken during the first three months of the COVID-19 crisis in the UK. Objectives: The project is aimed to respond to questions and concerns raised by front-line care staff during this time, by producing research-based ‘Top Tips’ to complement emerging COVID-19 policy and practice guidelines. Methods: Eight rapid, expert reviews of published, multidisciplinary research evidence were conducted to help answer care home workers’ questions about ‘how’ to support residents, family members and each other at a time of unprecedented pressure and grief and adhere to guidance on self-distancing and isolation. A review of the emerging policy guidelines published up to the end of April 2020 was also undertaken. Findings: The rapid reviews revealed gaps in research evidence, with research having a lot to say about what care homes should do and far less about how they should do it. The policy review highlighted the expectations and demands placed ...