Caring for Older People during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Residential Health Care Workers

Older people and health care workers in residential care homes are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 has been spreading around the world for more than two years, the nature of care delivery has been substantially transformed. This study aims at unde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-11, Vol.19 (22), p.15287
Main Authors: Lai, Veronica Sze-Ki, Yau, Sui-Yu, Lee, Linda Yin-King, Li, Becky Siu-Yin, Law, Susan Sin-Ping, Huang, Shixin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aging
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Disease transmission
Elder care
Epidemics
Health care
Health Personnel
Homes for the Aged
Humans
Infections
Labor shortages
Long term health care
Medical personnel
Mortality
Nursing Homes
Older people
Pandemics
Personal grooming
Population
Public health
Qualitative research
Social distancing
Workers
Workforce
Workforce planning
Workloads
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Summary:Older people and health care workers in residential care homes are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 has been spreading around the world for more than two years, the nature of care delivery has been substantially transformed. This study aims at understanding the long-term and ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on the delivery of care in residential care homes. It investigates how the delivery of care has been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic and how health care workers adapted to these changes from the perspectives of frontline health care workers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted from February to December 2021 with a purposive sample of 30 health care workers from six residential care homes in Hong Kong. Thematic analysis identified three themes, including (1) enhancing infection prevention and control measures; (2) maintaining the psychosocial wellbeing of residents; and (3) developing resilience. Discussions and implications were drawn from these findings.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph192215287