Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catanzaro Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy.
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Nurs Health Sci. 2022 Jun;24(2):395-404. doi: 10.1111/nhs.12935. Epub 2022 Mar 15.
Home care workers (HCWs) are a highly heterogeneous population in Italy in terms of their professional qualifications. HCWs play an important role in helping patients affected by chronic diseases and their families. Although many investigators have studied the lived experiences of family caregivers, few have been conducted "to give a voice" to HCWs and even fewer have examined the experiences of HCWs during the present COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the lived experiences of HCWs during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy. Cohen's phenomenological research approach was used to conduct this study. In our study, we enrolled and interviewed 19 HCWs who were female, and most were married, with an average age of 52 years. The participants were enrolled from September 2020 to November 2020, after the first COVID-19 wave in Italy. Four main themes emerged from the analysis of the data: (1) "I found myself alone"; (2) from invisibility to visibility; (3) a fear of getting sick and infecting others; and (4) "Health or work? That is the question." Understanding HCWs' lived experiences, especially those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a first step in giving a voice to this important but vulnerable population in the healthcare workforce.
家庭保健员（HCWs）在专业资格方面是意大利人口中高度异质的群体。HCWs 在帮助患有慢性疾病的患者及其家庭方面发挥着重要作用。尽管许多研究人员研究了家庭护理人员的生活经历，但很少有研究“为 HCWs 发声”，甚至更少研究 HCWs 在当前 COVID-19 大流行期间的经历。我们调查了意大利第一波大流行期间 HCWs 的生活经历。采用科恩的现象学研究方法进行了这项研究。在我们的研究中，我们招募并采访了 19 名女性 HCWs，其中大多数已婚，平均年龄为 52 岁。参与者于 2020 年 9 月至 2020 年 11 月期间招募，当时意大利正处于第一波 COVID-19 浪潮之后。数据分析得出了四个主要主题：（1）“我发现自己孤身一人”；（2）从无形到可见；（3）生病和感染他人的恐惧；（4）“健康还是工作？这是个问题”。了解 HCWs 的生活经历，尤其是与 COVID-19 大流行相关的经历，是为医疗保健工作者中这个重要但脆弱的群体发声的第一步。
