The following thesis focuses on the implementation of help at home during the first three waves of the pandemic. It is based on the position of the providers as well as the users. I was interested in researching how the providers experienced the pandemic and how the latter influenced the quality of services received by the users. In the theoretical part, topics relevant to the field in question are presented and explained. In this part, the emphasis is on the implementation of social care in the context of long-term care, and social work during the pandemic; moreover, the help at home service and its providers are presented. Finally, demographic changes, the ageing process, and geriatric needs are discussed in this part as well.
The thesis addresses how both sides coped with the new and extreme situation; what the basic issues were and how they were handled with; how social caregivers coped with the changes and safety measures alongside the existing difficulty of their work; what essential changes and restrictions they had to adhere to in accordance with authoritative ordnance and restrictions; what were their feelings in direct contact with the users and vice versa; how the pandemic was perceived by the users; what the main sources of help and support they used were; how their feelings during the pandemic changed and how the pandemics affected the lives of the elderly individuals who didn’t receive the help from their families but had to rely on the help provided by social caregivers.
The empirical part of the thesis presents and analyses the conducted research. The findings show that at the onset of the pandemic, both the providers and users experienced fear, especially the fear of contracting the virus and/or transferring the infection to their loved ones. For dealing with distress and feelings of fear, social caregivers often turned to the help-at-home coordinator, employed at the centre for social services, who was available for conversation and assistance. The staff also addressed their dilemmas among themselves and supported one another. The social services users acknowledged social caregivers’ visits as the primary source of help, as they provided stress-reducing conversations; however, the users’ loved ones were also an important support system. During the pandemic, social caregiving services were adapted to the ongoing situation and restricted to essential activities, such as care, helping with basic daily tasks, and delivering cooked meals. In accordance with all restrictions, both social care providers and users acknowledged several changes in the implementation of help at home, which proved essential during the pandemics. The adapted way of work was challenging for the social caregivers. It was the most difficult and burdensome to perform daily tasks in safety equipment and obeying the instructions and measures. Visit duration was shortened due to handling with the safety equipment. The users were thus, deprived of activity and companionship. They also acknowledged some changes in the delivery of meals. Nevertheless, their experience was not marked as negative or too burdensome. Work organisation was satisfactory, despite the shortage of social caregivers. The caregivers were not refused at the door due to the fear and panic overtaking the society but were rather accepted open-handedly. The social distancing and being restricted to home environments were acknowledged by the users as an opportunity to strengthen family bonds.
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