The Covid-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for the long-term care (LTC) sector and changed how staff provided care to residents and families. For example, in Canada, LTC staff were required to implement social contact restrictions, while also supporting ‘virtual’ resident and family communication, with video conference visits becoming a primary strategy for this. The objective of this study was to explore Canadian LTC staff members’ experiences supporting virtual communication between residents and family members during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of eight LTC staff with experience supporting or coordinating videoconference visits during this time were interviewed about their experiences. Interview data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results revealed an overarching theme of holding it together – working with the imperfect to support resident and family communication – which encompassed four key subthemes: accepting distanced communication as a new normal, tolerating the discomfort of new roles, needing to rely on each other in difficult circumstances, and disconnect between policy and on-the-ground experience. The social contact policies that were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic had never been tested over such a long duration of time. This study provides insight into the challenges of adapting some of these policies within LTC and may be valuable to ongoing planning for future outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, especially when considered alongside resident and family experiences.
