On the eve of a new COVID-19 vaccine rollout, senior living and care community operators have an opportunity to proactively support methods shown to increase worker vaccine confidence and boost vaccination levels, according to new research.
The review of 32 studies from seven countries, published in the September issue of Campbell’s Systematic Reviews, identified successful educational interventions used during the pandemic to increase vaccine uptake among adults. Long-term care providers in particular should take note that federal and state health authorities may continue to have its workers top-of-mind when new vaccines are authorized, lead author Amy T. Hsu, PhD, of the Bruyère Research Institute, Bruyère, Ottawa, Ontario, and colleagues wrote.
“Healthcare workers, particularly those who work in LTC, will likely remain a prioritized population for future vaccines given the health vulnerability of the population they support,” they wrote.
The industry also has struggled to retain staff in the aftermath of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks that defined 2020 and 2021, in part due to the stress of relentless illness among both residents and staff members.
But there are challenges to implementing an education intervention that are unique to healthcare and LTC settings, including the 24-hour schedule, high staff turnover, high workloads with limited time to engage in education, job-related stress, and limited resources including physical spaces and equipment, the study’s authors noted.
“Specifically, within LTC homes, finding coverage and securing backfill for staff to participate in education is a noted challenge,” they wrote. “It is evident then that administrators and educators need to be mindful of the development and rollout of education in these settings to boost confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and beyond,” they stated.
Hsu and colleagues identified a few key educational interventions delivered during the pandemic that had evidence for working in long-term care settings.
The use of personal connections, and trust between educator and audience stood out as important themes, the authors reported. Their findings also highlighted the need to work with the audience to understand their preferences, such as how vaccine education should be provided and the audiences’ information needs, to promote effective interventions.
The authors recommended train-the-trainer and staff champion models, which can help facilities and communities dispense educational information efficiently while considering LTC-specific challenges such as staffing, timing and resources, they wrote.
The designation of a staff champion to support vaccine messaging is linked to higher levels of COVID-19 vaccination among LTC staff, for example, the authors noted. They also recommended that administrators make use of multi-component educational interventions that can be rolled out in phases, helping to address the 24/7 shift-work operational model and timing constraints.
Addressing mistrust is a key issue as well, “given that the LTC workforce is predominantly foreign-born and female,” they explained.
“Facilitators should be a trusted member of the community, such as a religious or community leader who can understand and address personal concerns in a culturally safe and sensitive manner. Facilitators who are demographically and linguistically reflective of the population are likewise critical,” they wrote.
An awareness of the cultural considerations that influence vaccine beliefs is another key area of focus for education in the LTC workforce, the authors added. Although the practice was not used frequently in LTC intervention studies before the pandemic, an interactive process that includes the staff members may be necessary to achieve this goal, they said. This includes first identifying needs and preferences for content, format and language of the education to “ensure effective, appropriate, and relevant messaging,” they wrote.
