‘Going through the Eye of the Storm’: The Impact of Covid-19 on the Long-Term Dementia Care Workforce

Abstract

Context: Official guidance on Covid-19 failed to take account of the prevalence of dementia among people living in care homes or its implications for implementing infection control measures.Objective: To gain insight into the experience of those charged with implementing Covid-19 restrictions in long-term dementia care environments.Methods: Twenty members of the long-term dementia care workforce shared their experiences, using interviews, online discussion groups, or written personal accounts.Findings: Thematic analysis identified four key aspects of the participants’ experience: 1) Confusion and stress arising from the implementation of new policies, which changed very frequently; 2) The negative impact of measures such as social isolation, PPE, and coronavirus testing on people living with dementia and their families; 3) The impact on their own mental health and well-being over time; 4) Creative problem-solving and collaboration in the face of these challenges. Analysis suggests that the social care dementia workforce faced many of the same challenges identified for acute healthcare workers, with the addition of a sense of personal bereavement and responsibility when residents died.Limitations: The study is United Kingdom (UK)-dominated. Data were collected retrospectively and relate predominantly to the first wave of the pandemic. Most participants were studying on a MSc programme on which the first and third authors teach.Implications: Future guidance to care homes must take account of the high numbers of people with cognitive difficulties living in such environments. Co-designed strategies are needed to address the longer-term implications of Covid-19 for the social care dementia workforce.