gms | German Medical Science

Background: In March 2020, the Swiss Federal Council decided on various pandemic-related measures to control the spread of the virus. Among other things, residents and visitors in inpatient care institutions were subject to far-reaching visiting bans [1]. This also applied to people with dementia (PWD). The experience and interaction of nurses, caring relatives and their PWD with this new reality have hardly been researched so far.

Objectives: How do nurses, caring relatives and their PWD experience and act under Covid-19 conditions in an inpatient care setting?

Design and methods: In the period from May to July 2020, a total of 13 people were interviewed with the help of semi-structured interview-guidelines. Interviewees were nurses, caring relatives and their PWD in the inpatient and home care setting. The interviews conducted so far were analyzed using thematic analysis [2].

Results: The most relevant experiences in the first pandemic phase were fears about the mental and physical health of the PWD in the facilities and uncertainty about how to proceed to (re)establish personal contacts and previously established care processes. These issues affected both professional and informal carers. The two groups each established different actions, based on different resources, toad just the new reality. PWD, due to their cognitive limitations, did not establish systematic but situational actions to deal with the situation.

Conclusions: Greater flexibility of protective measures in dementia care and greater involvement of those affected in their implementation are crucial for their acceptance and for establishing successful coping strategies.

Conflict of interest:

• Steffen Heinrich declares no conflicts of interest with regard to the "Covid-19-Eastern Switzerland" study.
• Thomas Beer declares no conflicts of interest with regard to the "Covid-19-Eastern Switzerland" study.
• Heidi Zeller declares no conflicts of interest with regard to the "Covid-19-Eastern Switzerland" study.

Funding and ethics: The "Covid-19-Ostschweiz" study is funded by the Department of Health of the Canton of St. Gallen and the non-profit Dietschweiler Foundation, St. Gallen.