National Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Australian Residential Aged Care Residents and Staff

ABSTRACT

Objectives

This study is the first to obtain data on the prevalence of, contributors to, and supports required for, pandemic-related distress within the residential aged care sector in Australia. A nested mixed-methods approach was used to examine aged care leaders’ opinions about the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of aged care residents and staff.

Methods

A total of 288 senior staff of Australian residential aged care facilities (care managers, clinical care coordinators, and lifestyle team leaders; mean age = 52.7 years, SD = 10.3) completed an online survey between 10^th September and 31^st October 2020.

Results

On average, nearly half of their residents experienced loneliness (41%) and a third experienced anxiety in response to COVID-19 (33%). The most frequently noted contributors to poor mental health among residents were restrictions to recreational outings and watching news coverage relating to COVID-19. Participants emphasized the need for increased access to counseling services and improved mental health training amongst staff. Residential care staff were similarly impacted by the pandemic. More than a third of staff were reported as anxious (36%) and 20% depressed, in response to COVID-19. Staff were worried about introducing COVID-19 into their facility and were impacted by news coverage of COVID-19. Staff would feel supported by financial assistance and by increased staff-resident ratios.

Conclusions

Senior staff perceive that the mental health of Australian aged care residents and staff was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The most noted contributors were identified, as was the mental health support for aged care communities.

Clinical Implications

This study provides government and policymakers with clear intervention targets for supporting the sector. Clinicians can support residential aged care communities by providing on-site or telehealth counseling, and upskill and train residential aged care staff on how to respond to the emotional needs of residents in response to COVID-19.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• mental health
• aged care
• older adults
• residential aged care

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the participants in the study. We also thank Dr Oliver Holmes for contributing to this project as an independent coder of qualitative responses, and to Sofie Dunkerley for assisting with data collection. We also thank the two anonymous reviews whose suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript.

Description of authors’ roles

AB was responsible for collecting data, carrying out the statistical and qualitative analyses, and wrote the article. SB supervised data collection and assisted with writing the article. All authors contributed to formulating the research questions, designing the study, and assisted with writing the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Australian Government Research Training Scholarship