Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness in Long-Term Care

Our Implementation Science Team is partnering with six long-term care and retirement home units in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick to support the reintegration of family caregivers. Furthermore, our team is also supporting the reintegration of other informal caregivers who play an important social role for residents who have no or less involved family caregivers. Using a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial, we will compare outcomes from three of the units that will focus on the reintegration of family caregivers alone and outcomes from the remaining three units that will focus on the reintegration of both family and other informal caregivers. Components of the intervention will include the identification of caregivers and a point of contact for caregivers, development of a consistent screening process and safety protocols for caregivers, establishment of a rapid appeals process, pre-entry preparation of caregivers through supportive education, and staff education to understand the essential roles of caregivers. Resident, caregiver, and staff outcomes related to loneliness, social support, resilience, and burnout will be measured before, during, and after the implementation of the interventions.