File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Research Study

TRU professor seeks long-term care resident family members for study into impact of pandemic

Jan 31, 2022 | 2:58 PM

KAMLOOPS — A professor in the Thompson Rivers University School of Nursing is looking for relatives of long-term care residents to participate in a study about the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

Dr. Tracy Christianson is co-leading a research project concentrating on how nearly two years of restrictions around long-term care facilities have affected the care given to residents.

“We’ve got paid caregivers working in long-term care, but then we have family members who come in and support those paid caregivers,” Christianson told CFJC Today. “They will do things like, bathing, dressing, helping the resident to eat, socializing — all of those basic, fundamental care needs that we all have.”

“We need to really understand that experience that family caregivers are having — what that’s like for them during COVID — and being able or unable to connect with their loved one.”

Christianson says the research team wants to speak to family members, defined very broadly. Participants could be parents, grandparents, siblings, grandchildren, friends or legal guardians of anyone living in a B.C. care facility.

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“There’s been a number of studies that have been done about the impacts on the residents and paid caregivers, but we really are just starting to explore what that’s really like for the family caregiver so that we can also look forward to if we ever have another pandemic,” said Christianson.

Participants will be asked to complete a 20-minute survey, either online or on paper. Afterward, they will be offered a chance to participate in either a one-on-one interview with the research team or a talking circle with other respondents. Those who complete the process will be entered in a draw for a gift certificate valued at $250.

While the research project specifically covers the COVID-19 pandemic, Christianson says its findings could be applicable to other outbreaks in healthcare facilities.

“Sometimes we have wards close because of an outbreak of norovirus or the flu. We put people in isolation, we restrict them then — so how can maybe look at different strategies to address those (situations) but also keep families together,” she said.

“Watching family members trying to connect with those residents in care (during the pandemic) was really quite distressing for me,” she added. “Just trying to make that personal connection and it was really quite evident that there was a disconnect in what the COVID restrictions were doing to both the resident and the family member.”

To participate in the study:

• Call (250) 828-5478
• Email: croft-ltc@tru.ca
• Email: tchristianson@tru.ca

  Family Caregivers Wanted for Study – Colour Version by James Peters Cfjc on Scribd