THE IMPACT OF THE FIRST TWO WAVES OF THE SARS-CoV-2 PANDEMIC ON SENIORS IN SOCIAL SERVICES FACILITIES

Background: The most vulnerable group in this pandemic in the population are the elderly. In terms of their age and health, they are most exposed to the consequences of a pandemic. Social services facilities, where seniors live in communities where SARS-CoV 2 is very easy to spread, are facing a difficult test of how best to protect their residents. Methods: The research deals with the effects of the pandemic situation on seniors, on the work of employees and directors in facilities for seniors. For data collection, we used qualitative research, which was carried out in the form of individual interviews with three target groups, which consisted of recipients of social services, workers in social service facilities and directors as representatives of non-public providers of social services. As part of the research methodology, we used situation analysis with the open coding method. Research was done at senior home Samaritan in Tekovske Luzany, Slovakia. Results: We transformed the data obtained from interviews with 60 participants into codes and categories that emerged from the research questions. The results are shown in the text tables. Conclusion: The pandemic had a significant impact on the lives of seniors in the mental, physical and social spheres. The organization of social care in the facilities had to adapt very quickly and flexibly to the critical situation, although the management did not have any financial resources for the increased costs of hygiene and health care.