Thirsk Lorraine M, Stahlke Sarah, Perry Beth, Gordon Brogan
Faculty of Health Disciplines Athabasca University Athabasca Alberta Canada.
Department of Sociology University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada.
Fam Relat. 2022 Jun 4. doi: 10.1111/fare.12712.
The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of families, residents, and staff around visitor restriction policies in long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
Beginning in March 2020, public health orders across Canada restricted visitors to long-term care facilities to curb the spread of the infection. This included family caregivers who provide significant support to residents to meet their physical, psychological, social, and safety needs.
We collected data from publicly available news and social media. News articles, blogs, and tweets from Canada were collected from March 2020 to April 2021. In total, 40 news articles, eight blogs, and 23 tweets were analyzed using generic qualitative description.
Reports from family members indicate that some residents may have died from malnutrition, dehydration, and isolation, rather than from COVID-19, because of the sudden and prolonged absence of family caregivers. There are long-term impacts on family suffering and long-term care worker burnout. Policy and structural issues were identified.
Experiences in long-term care reflected not only impacts of pandemic-related visitor restrictions, but also long-standing funding and workforce issues.
Involvement of family, and specifically family caregivers, is crucial in policy decisions, even in unusual circumstances, such as the pandemic.
本研究旨在了解在加拿大新冠疫情期间，长期护理机构中家庭、居民和工作人员围绕访客限制政策的经历。
从2020年3月开始，加拿大各地的公共卫生指令限制了前往长期护理机构的访客，以遏制感染传播。这包括那些为居民提供重要支持以满足其身体、心理、社会和安全需求的家庭护理人员。
我们从公开的新闻和社交媒体收集数据。收集了2020年3月至2021年4月来自加拿大的新闻文章、博客和推文。总共40篇新闻文章、8篇博客和23条推文采用一般定性描述进行了分析。
家庭成员的报告表明，由于家庭护理人员突然且长期缺席，一些居民可能死于营养不良、脱水和隔离，而非死于新冠病毒。这对家庭痛苦和长期护理工作者的倦怠有长期影响。还发现了政策和结构问题。
长期护理中的经历不仅反映了与疫情相关的访客限制的影响，还反映了长期存在的资金和劳动力问题。
即使在像疫情这样的特殊情况下，家庭，特别是家庭护理人员的参与在政策决策中也至关重要。
