The COVID-19 pandemic and resident-family and caregivers’ relationships in nursing home: A case study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic bewildered the French population by its impact and particularly affected nursing homes. Older people living in nursing homes were at very high risk of being affected by COVID-19. This case study highlights its impact on resident-family dyad and caregivers’ relationships. The suffering and anger manifested by all, the difficulty in managing the stress of the caregivers, the cognitive and physical deterioration of the residents and their social isolation show us that this unexpected pandemic has not only had psychological consequences on all those involved, but also calls into question the foundations of support for the older people. This pandemic is an opportunity to step back from what has happened and to ask ourselves how we can preserve residents’ quality of life. Organization and measures need to be re-invented to limit and prevent the effects of this COVID-19 pandemic in the event of a resurgence of the virus.