Healthcare Staff Resilience to Work‐Related Challenges at Day Centres for Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study of Staff's Experiences Under Pressure

BACKGROUND: Day centres for older adults (DCOs) complement health and social care by supporting capability and social interaction in older adults. However, specific circumstances such as pandemics can rapidly change the prerequisites for everyday activities, negatively affecting older adults' participation and contributing to a stressful and frustrating work environment for healthcare staff. The aim of this study is to explore healthcare staff resilience to work-related challenges at DCOs for older adults during extraordinary circumstances and to describe aspects of the DCO work environment experienced by healthcare staff under pressure. METHOD: Six focus groups were conducted with healthcare professionals (registered occupational therapists, registered nurses and assistant nurses; n = 28) in municipal DCOs. Data was collected on two occasions (spring 2020 and autumn 2022) and analysed via qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Healthcare staff resilience to work-related challenges while under pressure was influenced by two categories. The first category, Circumstances influencing day activities at the DCOs, describes conditions related to leadership, the environment and regulations that affected day activities at the DCOs. The second category, Managing various actions due to an unstable work situation, describes how staff's ability to perform training and support social interactions with the older adults at the DCOs was carried out. CONCLUSION: Continuing activities for older adults at DCOs under extraordinary circumstances such as pandemics is essential. Having a structured plan regarding the different levels of openness or closure of the DCO and what activities can be carried out at each level may contribute to physical and psychosocial interventions in a more person-centred way. The results of this study emphasise the importance of DCOs for older adults. Healthcare providers and management must work together in order to support healthcare staff to be resilient to work-related challenges during extraordinary circumstances.