The School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden.
Division of Nursing, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Geriatr. 2024 Feb 6;24(1):135. doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04644-0.
Worldwide, older people were more severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic than others. In Sweden, those living in residential care facilities had the highest mortality rate, followed by those receiving home care services. The Swedish and international literature on the working environment for assistant nurses and care aides during the pandemic shows an increase in stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress syndromes. Care organisations were badly prepared to prevent the virus from spreading and to protect the staff from stress. In order to be better prepared for possible future pandemics, the health and well-being of the staff, the care of older people and the experiences of the staff both during and after a pandemic are important aspects to take into account. Therefore, this study aims to describe the experiences of assistant nurses and care aides working in the care of older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, their working conditions and the impact all this had on their lives.
The study has a qualitative, descriptive design. The data was collected in four focus group interviews with 21 participants and analysed using qualitative content analysis.
The results revealed the theme, Being used for the greater good while fighting on the frontline, which was then divided into three categories: portrayed as a risk for older people, not being valued and being burnt out. The worsening working conditions that the pandemic contributed to resulted in a high degree of stress and risk of burnout, with staff members both wanting to and actually leaving their employment. After the pandemic they felt forgotten again and left to cope in an even worse situation than before.
The pandemic had a major effect on assistant nurses and care aides in terms of their working environment and their private lives. To be better prepared for future pandemics or disasters, organisations with responsibility for the care of older people will need to ensure that their staff have the necessary competencies and that there is adequate staffing in place. This also means that adequate government funding and multiple interventions will be needed.
在全球范围内，老年人在 COVID-19 大流行期间受到的影响比其他人群更为严重。在瑞典，居住在养老院的人群死亡率最高，其次是接受家庭护理服务的人群。瑞典和国际上关于疫情期间助理护士和护理助手工作环境的文献表明，他们的压力、焦虑、抑郁和创伤后应激综合征的发病率有所增加。护理机构在防止病毒传播和保护工作人员免受压力方面准备不足。为了更好地为可能发生的未来大流行做准备，工作人员的健康和福祉、老年人的护理以及工作人员在大流行期间和之后的经历，都是需要考虑的重要方面。因此，本研究旨在描述瑞典在 COVID-19 大流行期间在老年人护理工作中的助理护士和护理助手的工作经验、工作条件以及这些因素对他们生活的影响。
本研究采用定性、描述性设计。通过 4 次焦点小组访谈，对 21 名参与者进行了数据收集，使用定性内容分析法进行了分析。
研究结果揭示了一个主题，即“在前线战斗中被用作更大的利益”，然后分为三个类别：被描绘为老年人的风险、不被重视和精疲力竭。大流行导致工作条件恶化，使工作人员压力很大，有倦怠的风险，他们既想离开，又真的辞职了。大流行结束后，他们再次感到被遗忘，只能在比以前更糟糕的情况下应对。
大流行对助理护士和护理助手的工作环境和私人生活都产生了重大影响。为了更好地为未来的大流行或灾难做准备，负责老年人护理的组织需要确保其工作人员具备必要的能力，并确保有足够的人员配备。这也意味着需要足够的政府资金和多种干预措施。
