Social Healthcare Professionals’ Hygiene-Related Behaviours and Opportunities to Contain Infections in Long-Term Care Facilities: An Exploratory Ethnographic Study

Worldwide, nursing homes’ residents proved vulnerable to COVID-19. This paper presents knowledge about social healthcare professionals’ hygiene behaviours and identifies potential topics for development related to containing the spread of infections in long-term care facilities. A qualitative exploratory study based on four semi-structured interviews and eight participant observations yielding a total of 30 hours of observation was analysed through thematic analysis. The findings revealed the following two themes: “Knowledge gaps in prevention” and “Home or institution – An ethical dilemma”. The themes are interconnected and concern performance of hygiene and dividing procedures into clean and unclean procedures. The ethical dilemma emerged from the invisible and unadjusted prioritizing of a homely atmosphere to an institutional atmosphere of infection prevention. Leadership characterized by answering questions instead of knowledge development seemed present in both themes. Working in small multifunctional rooms at nursing homes demands reflective hygienical and ethical thinking. This study calls for continuous training in reflective practice.