The importance of training in social organizations’ due to COVID-19 pandemic challenges

Abstract

This work presents the grounding behind ongoing research. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, declared by World Health Organization, being the Residential Structures for the Elderly confined, the workers in solitary confinement, and the elderly without any visits, we started this research which aims to assess the effects of online training and activities, mainly on reducing the stress levels of workers and elderly, the loneliness feeling among the elderly, and the workers’ engagement. Using technologies, and with the contributions from a multidisciplinary team, we built some resources to minimize the pandemic effects in seniors and workers of Residential Structures for the Elderly. All the materials were placed in a document repository created for the purpose, so they could be accessed whenever necessary, especially at a time that could ease the heavy task experienced by workers in these structures and when it was possible to accompany the residents, as some tasks require assistance and instruction in their accomplishment. The research project team, which has been running since March 2020, intends that in 2021 this project becomes a virtual resource center, available for all national social organizations, after carrying out all the proposed and verified changes by the analysis of the protocol built for this purpose. This project will be a repository for good practices, offering a set of tools and activities, recorded and in real time, available for all the organizations in the social sector, but above all for most isolated and with the least economic resources.