Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich and University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Front Public Health. 2024 Mar 11;12:1292379. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1292379. eCollection 2024.
Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) particularly affected older adults, with the highest risks for nursing home residents. Stringent governmental protective measures for nursing homes unintendedly led to social isolation of residents. Nursing home directors (NDs) found themselves in a dilemma between implementing protective measures and preventing the social isolation of nursing home residents.
The objectives of this study were to describe protective measures implemented, to investigate NDs' perception of social isolation and its burden for nursing home residents due to these measures, and to explore experiences of NDs in the context of the dilemma.
Cross-sectional embedded mixed-method study carried out by an online survey between April 27 and June 09, 2022, among NDs in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The survey consisted of 84 closed-ended and nine open-ended questions. Quantitative findings were analyzed with descriptive statistics and qualitative data were evaluated using content analysis.
The survey was completed by 398 NDs (62.8% female, mean age 55 [48-58] years) out of 1'044 NDs invited.NDs were highly aware of the dilemma. The measures perceived as the most troublesome were restrictions to leave rooms, wards or the home, restrictions for visitors, and reduced group activities. NDs and their teams developed a variety of strategies to cope with the dilemma, but were burdened themselves by the dilemma.
As NDs were burdened themselves by the responsibility of how to deal best with the dilemma between protective measures and social isolation, supportive strategies for NDs are needed.
冠状病毒大流行（COVID-19）对老年人影响尤其大，养老院居民的风险最高。政府对养老院实施的严格保护措施无意中导致居民社交隔离。养老院院长（NDs）发现自己在实施保护措施和防止养老院居民社交隔离之间陷入两难境地。
本研究的目的是描述实施的保护措施，调查 NDs 对由于这些措施导致的养老院居民社交隔离及其负担的看法，并探讨 NDs 在这种困境下的经验。
这是一项在瑞士德语区进行的横断面嵌入式混合方法研究，于 2022 年 4 月 27 日至 6 月 9 日期间通过在线调查进行。调查包括 84 个封闭式和 9 个开放式问题。定量数据采用描述性统计进行分析，定性数据采用内容分析进行评估。
在受邀的 1044 名 NDs 中，有 398 名（62.8%为女性，平均年龄 55 [48-58] 岁）完成了调查。NDs 非常清楚这种困境。被认为最麻烦的措施是限制离开房间、病房或住所、限制访客和减少集体活动。NDs 和他们的团队制定了各种策略来应对这种困境，但自己也感到负担沉重。
由于 NDs 对如何最好地应对保护措施和社交隔离之间的困境感到负担沉重，因此需要为 NDs 提供支持策略。
