Exploring Resilience in UK-Based Domiciliary Care Workers before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Domiciliary carers (DCs) provide an invaluable service that enables people living with dementia (PLWD) to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible. We know a lot about the negative impacts of providing domiciliary care and recent evidence suggests that this was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we know much less about how these DCs manage the stressors associated with their roles. The current study adopts a resilience perspective to identify the resources that DCs caring for PLWD draw on to manage the stress associated with their roles before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 DCs from across the UK. Data were analysed using a directed qualitative content analysis. Themes included: healthy boundaries; motivation to care; psychological attributes; managing work; and support. The findings have implications for employers and may go some way towards improving DC working conditions, retaining staff, and attracting new DCs in the future.