Exploring experiences of loneliness among Canadian long-term care residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.
Chelsea B Smith, Karen Lok Yi Wong, Flora To-Miles and 6 others
PMID 36347829WHAT IT FOUND
Residents described loneliness as grief for lost friends and isolation from family.
They found brief staff connection, virtual visits, and modified recreation helpful. Staff perceived the impact of isolation on residents' physical and mental decline as more severe than residents reported.
Key findings
01Residents identified social isolation, missing family, and grief for deceased peers as primary drivers of loneliness.
02Brief social support from staff, virtual connections with family, and modified recreational activities were reported by residents as mitigating loneliness.
03Staff perceived the consequences of isolation on residents' physical and mental health to be more extreme than residents described themselves.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited from only two homes in the Vancouver area, limiting transferability to other regions or care models. Interviews were conducted in English, excluding residents and staff who did not speak the language. The study did not screen for cognitive impairment, relying on staff judgment of capacity, which may have introduced bias in participant selection. Staff perceived the impact of loneliness on residents' health as more severe than residents reported, creating a discrepancy in outcome interpretation. Convenience sampling and the specific context of severe outbreaks may not reflect experiences in homes with lower infection rates or different staffing models.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the staff-reported physical and mental decline in residents as a direct causal effect of loneliness measured by the study. The study is qualitative and reports staff perceptions of these changes, not objective clinical outcomes or a controlled comparison of loneliness levels and health status.