Dr. Sameh Eltaybani, Project Lecturer in Global Nursing Research Center
During the COVID-19 pandemic, places where older people live and receive long-term care (such as long-term care facilities) have been considered risky for spreading the virus. Project Senior lecturer Sameh Eltaybani of the Global Nursing Research Center (GNRC) conducted an international, collaborative study to examine how nursing homes responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, Dr. Eltaybani led a research team of 48 researchers and assessed long- term care facilities in 15 countries. The research team found that Long-term care facilities that had received more training on infection control before the pandemic and had easier access to information about COVID-19 were better at following the guidelines to prevent and control the virus. The study also found that during the pandemic, residents in these facilities felt lonelier and sadder compared to before. However, providing more psychological support to the residents helped reduce aggressive behaviors among them. Furthermore, the researchers reported that when the staff received more psychological support, they experienced less work-life imbalance while dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. “Looking back at how we responded to infectious outbreaks like COVID-19 can teach us valuable lessons that will help us better prepare and respond to future outbreaks,” said Dr. Eltaybani.
Access the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15785