Nurses’ experiences of caring for long-term care residents with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on older persons who reside in long-term care settings, especially residents living with dementia. The physical and psychological burden of the current pandemic has also been felt by frontline caring staff including nurses caring for persons living with dementia. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of nurses while caring for residents with dementia who resided in long-term dementia care units during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine Maltese nurses working in dementia care units were interviewed during the month of February 2021. Following analysis of the transcripts, three themes were identified; ‘living the challenges of the pandemic’, ‘passing through a roller coaster of emotions’ and ‘building on personal and organisational resilience’. The participants lived through several challenges which in turn generated both positive and negative emotions. Moving forward through this period mostly relied on their coping strategies, how they negotiated infection control measures with the residents’ quality of life and how their organisation was able to provide quality dementia care pre-COVID-19. The study indicated how personal and organisational resilience could have influenced the participants’ experience of the pandemic and helped nursing staff in developing new ways of working.