Living in a care home during COVID-19: a case study of one person living with dementia

Davies-Abbott, I., Hedd Jones, Catrin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9753-0777 and Windle, G. (2021) Living in a care home during COVID-19: a case study of one person living with dementia. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 22 (3/4). pp. 147-158. ISSN 1471-7794

Abstract

Purpose
This paper aims to understand the lived experience of a person living with dementia in a care home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It responds to the absence in research of the voices of people with dementia living in care homes during the pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a single case study design applied thematic analysis to semi-structured interview data to discover the experiences of one person living with dementia in a care home during a period of lockdown.

Findings
Five themes reveal how the participant responded to the practical and emotional challenges of the pandemic: autonomy; fears; keeping connected; keeping safe and other people living with dementia. These themes highlight the participant’s ability to adapt, accept and dispute lockdown restrictions, revealing considerable insight into their situation.

Research limitations/implications
The pandemic has restricted access to care homes, which informed the single case study design. This approach to the research may restrict the generalisability of the findings. Other researchers are encouraged to include the voices of people with dementia living in care homes in further studies.

Practical implications
Implications for practice, presented in this paper, promote quality psychosocial approaches when health-care workers engage with people living with dementia during periods of restricted activity.

Originality/value
Unlike other studies about the impact of the pandemic on care homes, this paper explores the experience of the pandemic in care homes from the perspective of a person living with dementia.

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