The Social Decline: An Absence in Activities

• In Event: 41021 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 11: Intersectional Inequalities

Abstract

Older adults are often oversold and underserved within long-term care and assisted living facilities (Jonasson 2023). Since COVID-19 these establishments have been operating with skeleton crews, which has resulted in limited outreach for meaningful and social engagement (Chen 2020). Due to these institutional disparities that older folks face, how does surveillance and resource rationing affect outreach and utilization of activities and the need for more human interactions within a long-term care setting, especially during a pandemic. With this in mind, community engagement and panoptical tactics will be explored within this project, using 3-7 qualitative interviews with activities workers who are currently or have formerly worked within an assisted living, we will explore 1) the tasks and functions of assisted living activities workers, 2) their work environment and culture, 3) if they felt like they provided meaningful services and 4) if they ever played a role in charting, communicating, or reporting on changes of conditions in their residents.

Author

• Celina Rene Bridges, California State University Stanislaus