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Background: COVID-19 has significant impact on long-term care (LTC) residents and staff. The purpose of this paper is to report the data gathered during a COVID-19 outbreak in a Canadian LTC home regarding staff experiences, challenges, and needs, to offer lessons learned and implications. Methods: A total of 30 staff from multiple disciplines participated in the study, including nurses, care workers, recreational staff, and a unit clerk. Focus groups (n = 20) and one-on-one interviews (n = 10) were conducted as part of a larger participatory action research (PAR) study in a Canadian LTC home. All data collection was conducted virtually via Zoom, and thematic analysis was performed to identify themes. Results: Four main themes were identified: We are Proud, We Felt Anxious, We Grew Closer to Residents and Staff Members, and The Vaccines Help. Conclusions: This research details the resilience that characterizes staff in LTC, while highlighting the emotional toll of the pandemic, particularly during an outbreak. LTC staff in this study found innovative ways to connect and support residents and this resulted in stronger connections and relationships. Leadership and organizational support are pivotal for supporting team resilience to manage crisis and adapt positively in times of COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the period of outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic has significant impact on long‐term care (LTC) residents' health and well‐being. Objectives: This study investigated resident experiences of loneliness during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Canadian LTC homes to offer lessons learned and implications. Methods: 15 residents and 16 staff members were recruited from two large urban Canadian LTC homes with large outbreaks and fatalities. We used a telepresence robot to conduct one‐on‐one semi‐structured interviews with participants remotely. We applied the Collaborative Action Research (CAR) methodology and report the early phase of CAR focused on collecting data and reporting findings to inform actions for change. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes. Results: Four themes were identified. The first two themes characterise what commonly generated feelings of loneliness amongst residents, including (1) social isolation and missing their family and friends and (2) feeling hopeless and grieving for lives lost. The second two themes describe what helped residents alleviate loneliness, including (3) social support and (4) creating opportunities for recreation and promoting positivity. Conclusions: Residents living in LTC experienced significant social isolation and grief during the pandemic that resulted in loneliness and other negative health consequences. Implications for practice: Promoting meaningful connection, safe recreational activities and a positive atmosphere in LTC homes during the pandemic may help mitigate residents' experiences of loneliness due to social isolation and/or grief and enhance their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This first phase of a three-phase action research project aims to define leadership practices that should be used during and after the pandemic to re-imagine and rebuild the health and social care system. Specifically, the objectives were to determine what effective leadership practices Canadian health leaders have used through the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, to explore how these differ from pre-crisis practices; and to identify what leadership practices might be leveraged to create the desired health and care systems of the future. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used an action research methodology. In the first phase, reported here, the authors conducted one-on-one, virtual interviews with 18 health leaders from across Canada and across leadership roles. Data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Findings: Five key practices emerged from the data, within the core dimension of disrupting entrenched structures and leadership practices. These were, namely, responding to more complex emotions in self and others. Future practice identified to create more psychologically supportive workplaces. Agile and adaptive leadership. Future practice should allow leaders to move systemic change forward more quickly. Integrating diverse perspectives, within and across organizations, leveling hierarchies through bringing together a variety of perspectives in the decision-making process and engaging people more broadly in the co-creation of strategies. Applying existing leadership capabilities and experience. Future practice should develop and expand mentorship to support early career leadership. Communication was increased to build credibility and trust in response to changing and often contradictory emerging evidence and messaging. Future practice should increase communication. Research limitations/implications: The project was limited to health leaders in Canada and did not represent all provinces/territories. Participants were recruited through the leadership networks, while diverse, were not demographically representative. All interviews were conducted in English; in the second phase of the study, the authors will recruit a larger and more diverse sample and conduct interviews in both English and French. As the interviews took place during the early stages of the pandemic, it may be that health leaders' views of what may be required to re-define future health systems may change as the crisis shifts over time. Practical implications: The sponsoring organization of this research – the Canadian Health Leadership Network and each of its individual member partners – will mobilize knowledge from this research, and subsequent phases, to inform processes for leadership development and, succession planning across, the Canadian health system, particularly those attributes unique to a context of crisis management but also necessary in post-crisis recovery. Social implications: This research has shown that there is an immediate need to develop innovative and influential leadership action – commensurate with its findings – to supporting the evolution of the Canadian health system, the emotional well-being of the health-care workforce, the mental health of the population and challenges inherent in structural inequities across health and health care that discriminate against certain populations. Originality/value: An interdisciplinary group of health researchers and decision-makers from across Canada who came together rapidly to examine leadership practices during COVID-19's first wave using action research study design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]