COVID-19 in a Day Care Centre from the Perspective of the Employees

The researched issue is the impact of infection caused by a  new type of coronavirus in the environment of a day care centre. The importance of the issue is given by the fact that the topic directly concerns the lives of all actors connected with the environment off ering social services. The purpose was to use the stories obtained from the helpers in order to look at the subjective picture which shows the current situation of the actors. With the onset of the pandemic and the introduction of anti-pandemic measures, they are coming into a specifi c situation and are facing (up to now) an unknown challenge. The aim of this paper was to use qualitative research tools in order to capture the authentic statements of respondents in a particular environment and try to avoid purposeful interpretations to which the topic may lead. In addition to the description of the stories of the respondents, the study also presents seven key topics arising after data collection and subsequent coding. The argumentation depends on the attitude of the interviewed respondents. The conclusions of the qualitative study off er a  starting point for understanding the current serious situation, give the opportunity to understand the phenomenon in a more comprehensive form of authentic statements, and can be used for research into possible impacts of coronavirus crisis on actors in day care centres.


Research Problem and Research Question
Th e workplaces with the highest risk in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection are, among others, facilities providing social services to their clients. Th e problem is not just the easy spread of the disease in the community-like environment. At the same time, these facilities care for a group of clients who are immediately endangered by a possible infection of a new type of virus due to their greater susceptibility to a worse course of the COVID-19 disease. 1 Th e examined day care centre 2 is a facility that was probably among the most aff ected by coronavirus in the region. 3 Th e aim of this article is to understand how the employees of the selected DCC perceive and experience this diffi cult situation and why they perceive it in such a way. Th e research was perceived through the subjects of the research problem (in this case to the centre educators). Th e main research question formulated is: How are the current situations emerging in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic experienced by day care centres?

Design and Research Method
With regard to the formulated research question, a qualitative approach to the investigated phenomenon was chosen, as the question asked is about the discovery of some not entirely clear phenomena. 4 Th e respondents are two specifi c DCC employees who work as 'activation workers in social services' . At the same time, they are students of the leisure education programme at the Faculty of Th eology at the University of South Bohemia. Th e data was based on the fact that the respondents wrote open-form essays 5 during one semester, and the core message of these essays became the basis for an in-depth, unstructured interview. It was based on a basic research question. Th e form of the supplementary questions is not relevant for the design of the research, as the supplementary questions were asked in order to gain a deeper understanding of the message and took place spontaneously and naturally on the basis of the narratives of the respondents. Th e data obtained during the interviews were recorded, then transcribed verbatim, and then analysed. Th e purpose of the analysis was to process the data in a meaningful way and fi nd the answer to the question asked. Open coding was chosen for analysis. Th e resulting codes were then grouped (categorised) into terms that belonged to the same phenomenon, and then interpreted in order to understand the phenomena that arose during the process.

Research Data and Survey Ethics
Th e data is based on the authorial essays which helped to formulate the basic research question, and especially on in-depth, unstructured interviews which were conducted in order to fi nd an answer to the research question. 6 Th e names of the respondents were anonymised for ethical reasons, and the mentioned workplace is named and presented only in a general way. Th e respondents agreed with the research and the fi nal version of the article was provided to them in order to receive their approval.

Issues Concerning Quality and Interpretation of the Research
Th e initial impulse for the formulation of the basic research question and research in general was the information obtained from the authorial essays of two respondents. Aft er analysing the essays, 2 Hereinaft er referred to as DCC, or 'centre' .
3 Th e name of the region is not given for ethical reasons. 4 Cf. Roman ŠVAŘÍČEK and Klára ŠEĎOVÁ, Kvalitativní výzkum v pedagogických vědách: Pravidla hry, Praha: Portál, 2007. 5 It has been proven by the practice that for the purposes of qualitative research it is more advantageous when students' authorial texts are not evaluated in terms of form and content. Th ey are just submitted or not submitted. Th is concerns the repeated experience made within the course of a particular study programme. 6 Cf. Roman ŠVAŘÍČEK and Klára ŠEĎOVÁ, Kvalitativní výzkum.

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the basic research question was formulated and unstructured interviews were conducted with the respondents. Triangulation was used not in the context of eff orts to strengthen the validity of the collected data (by placing two diff erent methods against each other), but in the second sense, that is, as a strategy upporting knowledge through the acquisition of additional information. 7 Data gained from essays and in-depth interviews are therefore not artifi cially isolated; the fi nal message presented to the reader is a form created by the synthesis of all the data obtained. Th e intention was to avoid two issues in the interpretation of the data. Th ese were supporting the researcher's preconceived notions and the well-known phenomenon of qualitative studies called 'overinterpretation' (the ambition to fi nd something in the data that is not really there and to project one's implicit theories into them). Th e communication aimed at answering the research question focuses on the statements of the respondents, as this is desirable in the area of qualitative research. 8 Th e limit of the research is the data obtained from two respondents only. With regard to the amount of data obtained, a reduction was necessary. Th e personal data of the respondents are given intentionally: we believe that a closer description of the respondents helps to understand the contextual logic of the qualitative survey.

Th eoretical Framework of the Problem
Th e phenomenon is studied in the environment of social services. A simplifi ed defi nition of social work would be defi ned as follows: it is a specifi cally focused activity aimed at helping people in non-standard and diffi cult life situations. 9 In professional publications, this profession is commonly associated with the refl ection of the ideals of society. 10 Assisting professions can be defi ned by a relatively simple characteristic. Namely, they are characterised by working with people. It is a whole range of professions, whether medical, pedagogical, or social. 11 Within the helping professions, the human relationship plays a central role. Th is aspect distinguishes the helping professions from other professions in which social interaction appears. 12 At a broader level, the human relationship is considered a basic 'tool' when exercising this profession. 13 Social services are professionalised: the aim is to train qualifi ed social workers whose expertise is declared by being able to apply knowledge from various disciplines (sociology, psychology) in practice and who are competent to work with a specifi c person. 14 Social services can have a residential, an outpatient, or a fi eld character. A DCC usually focuses on the provision of residential services with the provision of food and health and social care. DCCs are classifi ed in diff erent ways. Th e most numerous groups of recipients of social services include the elderly, people with disabilities, families with children, but also people who, for various reasons, live 'on the margins' At the time of writing this article, the abnormal situation connected with the COVID-19 pandemic was quickly fi lling the pages of professional foreign and domestic journals. Th e issue of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is oft en mapped in studies and university dissertations using the tools of economics. 17 Th ese are mainly research surveys (the focus is on structured questions) which were conducted for the initial assessment of the situation and to refl ect the impact of the epidemic on social services. 18 We can mention the survey conducted by Institut sociální práce (the Institute of Social Work) in cooperation with the NMS Market Research agency (respondents answered several closed questions and one open question). 19 Th e topic concerns, for example, 'Combating exclusions and ageism for older people during the COVID-19 Pandemic' (Th e Galway appeal) which contains four statements: (1) 'State and community responses to COVID-19 must be cognisant of direct exclusions that impact older people as a result of policies and strategies implemented to combat the virus, and where possible account for these negative circumstances through supports and action. '; (2) 'We must continue to ensure that treatment for COVID-19, and other forms of resource allocation associated with the crisis, are based on need, and not a simple age threshold. '; (3) 'In implementing polices and strategies to protect older people during COVID-19, we must not ignore the heterogeneity of the older population and frame older individuals as highly vulnerable, passive agents, ignoring their contribution during the pandemic. '; and (4) 'Policy and strategies combating COVID-19 must not be based on a problematisation of ageing and older people in the context of the crisis, or function to destabilise the considerable solidarity currently being witnessed across the generations. ' 20 Th e core of the discussion about the results of our research will also be the report of the working group of the Rada vlády pro duševní zdraví (Government Council for Mental Health) which initiated an investigation into the impact of the crisis caused by COVID-19 on the mental health of the Czech population. 21 Considering the implemented qualitative surveys, we can mention Holmajerová's fi nal work focused on the life experiences of seniors living in their own household, who have limited contact with others due to anti-pandemic measures. Based on a qualitative survey, she categorised fi ve main topics. Using these, she tried to answer the research question ('life goes on, one cannot do anything about that, I have to die from something'; the lasting stability in a senior's life despite the instability of the situation; preserving the unity with your close ones as a defence against the feeling of social isolation; subjective perceptions of the environment suddenly become more negative and measures help but harm as well). However, this fi nal thesis does not fully address the issues addressed in this paper, as it examines respondents from diff erent backgrounds (own household / DCC). In addition, it reports on the attitudes of healthy women over 65 who are without a real-life experience with the coronavirus infection. 22

Introduction of the Specifi c DCC
Th e aforementioned home provides services for clients who have reduced self-suffi ciency due to age or disability. Th erefore, they require regular assistance from others, including the provision of social services (accommodation, meals, and care in the residential facility). Th e centre accepts mentally and physically handicapped clients from the age of 27. Th e second, very large group are seniors. In the second wave of the epidemic, the vast majority of clients and almost half of the staff became infected in the centre. 23 To understand the situation in this particular centre, the testimonies of two respondents will help us. Th ey are colleagues in the centre, but each works with a diff erent group of clients and in a diff erent department. Th eir diff erent professional experience off ers the opportunity to see the researched phenomenon more comprehensively.

Th e Story of Respondent No. 1
Respondent No. 1 graduated from an upper high school which teaches pedagogy (15-18 years). She is the mother of two children and has been working in the educational sector for eight years. Respondent No. 1 applied for a job in the aforementioned DCC, and waited fi ve years in order to gain a position as an 'activation worker in social services' in the seniors' department. Her job is to develop the fi ne motor skills and manual skills of clients. She organises leisure activities, participates in their implementation, and ensures cultural and hobby activities for clients. She deals individually with clients who need psychological help. In her authorial essay at the end of January, she formulated a story that became the theme for another, unstructured interview and for a narrative interview. All the data, in a condensed, reduced form, illustrate a section of the story recording the spread of the disease in the DCC:

Th e Story of Respondent No. 2
Respondent No. 2 graduated with a high school diploma. Her fi eld of study was specifi ed as Family School -Economic and Administrative Services. Aft er graduation, she studied at a language school focusing on the German language. She did not complete her studies of German language with a focus on education at the Faculty of Education for family reasons. She is married and is raising two children with her husband. Aft er reading all the essays of Respondent No. 2 and aft er conducting an unstructured interview, I asked the respondent a few additional questions that arose during the transcription of the interviews. Respondent No. 2 wrote another of the authorial essays. It was very authentic and open. I present only some personal data stated in the essay. In her story, she describes that she has lived in the company of a senior since she was a child (she took care of her grandfather in addition to other family members). At a time when her grandfather's health became worse and the informant was unable to provide all the necessary care for him, he was admitted to a centre providing social services.
Later -aft er her fi rst child was born -she joined the aforementioned DCC and obtained the position of 'activation worker in social services' in the seniors' department (that is, she has the same position as the Respondent No. 1). Respondent No. 2 worked in the seniors' department for a year and a half. Her work included activation therapies, for example, a ceramic and art workshop, reading with seniors, sitting dance, and, especially, musical activities. When one of the colleagues from the department of the 'younger clients' (30-60 years, clients with health and mental disabilities) left , she took over her position. She has been working as an activation worker in the department of clients with health and mental disabilities since then. Respondent No. 2 described the situation infl uenced by the pandemic at her workplace in the following authorial essay (Respondent No. 2: 'Th is essay was easy to write. One did not have to think about it for a long time. I just described the reality, the life situation. '). Th e story was shortened again and the message reduced for the purposes of the research question. Th ese two stories described in the written essay serve as an authentic image illustrating the situation in the DCC. Th e following chapters will be devoted to key topics that arose aft er data collection from in-depth, unstructured interviews based on open coding and categorisation. Th e aim was to make sure that the additional comments in the following chapters were not simplistic interpretations. Th e core of the message indented for the reader was to be quoted, authentic statements. 24

Anti-pandemic Measures and Impacts of Insulation
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the director of the centre banned clients' visits and walks outside the centre premises until further notice. In an unstructured interview,

Deaths of Clients
Respondent No.1 mentioned, among other things, her childhood. She was raised by her great-grandmother and has been working in the environment of seniors all her life -now also professionally. According to her, the fates of 'her' clients aff ect her personally. She explained that seniors oft en confi de in her and talk to her about very personal matters. According to her, she has gained their trust, because she, unlike 'non-educational' (medical) staff , has time for them. She confi ded that, as a result of a more personal relationship with clients, it is harder for her when they die. In her statements, she repeatedly described the frustration caused by the deaths of clients during the spread of the disease in the DCC.

Vaccination as a Symbol of Hope
Seniors in this centre may also experience a kind of frustration due to media coverage. It supplies the artifi cially closed DCC environment with a lot of negative information. Respondent No. 1 mentioned a very important factor that currently aff ects the way of experiencing the pandemic in the elderly: the onset of vaccination. My colleague and I collected 182 written essays at the Faculty of Th eology of the University of South Bohemia. Th ese works capture the students' attitudes towards the current situation aff ected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Authorial essays in which students of leisure pedagogy also perceived a certain positive challenge in the current situation appeared sporadically. During the unstructured interview, the respondents also dealt with this issue, that is, whether they see something positive even in this diffi cult time through the prism of their experiences. Th ey were assured, of course, that they did not have to construct their answer at all costs. Respondent No. 1 looks at the current situation using the perspective of her helping profession.

Discussion and Conclusion
Th e paper builds on data obtained from two respondents working in DCC. Th is centre is currently facing the problem of the disease and its spreading. Users of social services as well as centre workers are limited by measures aimed at preventing or at least slowing down the spread of the infection caused by the new type of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. As this is a new challenge, a new situation, its eff ects are currently being investigated. Th e aim of this paper was to capture authentic statements (in a specifi c environment with the help of qualitative research tools) and to try to avoid purposeful interpretations (which such a topic may lead to). Th e respondents provided a starting point for this work: their story describing the dynamic development of the pandemic and the way in which the centre is infl uenced, limited, and aff ected by the current situation associated with COVID-19.
In their statements, they mentioned that the two waves of the pandemic situation are qualitatively diff erent. Th eir argumentation is based on the fact that the disease spread in the centre during the second wave and had a severe impact on the lives of clients and on the respondents themselves in their personal and professional life. A research survey by Nádvorníková and Kliment also mentions a change in the perception of the epidemic and restrictive measures. Th ey state that one of the factors for perceiving the situation as serious was fear. It typically intensifi ed when a staff member became ill. 25 Th e impact on the job role is described in the same spirit by Respondent No. 2: due to her colleagues' illness and the closure of the canteen, she had to carry out other work activities (e.g., buying cigarettes for clients, arranging communication with relatives of potentially ill clients, etc.) outside her employment duties. Th e respondents are experiencing a situation of sudden deaths of clients caused by COVID-19, and it is very hard for them. It is also a well-known fact from psychological research. Experiencing events that are perceived by an individual as uncontrollable and unpredictable is particularly diffi cult. 26 Jankovský draws attention to the dark side of the institutional model of cold, material, depersonalised professional care. 27 In contrast to this risk (which can be considered a price paid for professionalisation in the helping professions), we perceive the statements of Respondent No. 2 and her participatory interest in clients. Th e report of the working group of the Government Council for Mental Health, which mapped the eff ects of the crisis caused by COVID-19 on the mental health of the Czech population, states that the institutionalised population, including people with disabilities, seniors in institutions, etc., was hit hard by the restrictive measures. Namely, they mainly suff ered due to social isolation caused by restrictions on free movement, resp. by a ban on visits. Th e report states that the institutions were unprepared and managed the situation intuitively. 28 Th e respondents clarifi ed the communication and added the fi ndings from their practice: anti-pandemic measures are experienced qualitatively diff erently by diff erent groups of users of social services. Clients with mental disabilities experience the situation according to the degree of their cognitive abilities and the degree of institutional deprivation. In users of social services, the degree of frustration depends on their individual needs (illustrated by the case of a client who cannot perform his 'walking ritual' aft er breakfast because the gates of the centre are closed). Th e respondents mentioned that possible frustration can be relieved, for example, by physical activity in the area of the complex, activation activities, haptic contact (in the case of disabled seniors confi ned to bed), mediated contact with relatives with the help of video calls, or increased dosage of medication. While the report of the working group of the Government Council for Mental Health recommends the provision of at least online contact of clients with the external social environment as an example of 'good practice' , the respondents experienced a particularly diffi cult situation when considering the isolation of senior clients. In their case, video calls cannot mediate full contact. Th e respondents stated that the quality of meeting with seniors through video calls is infl uenced by the necessary presence of centre workers (who help with technology but can also disturb the privacy of callers) and by the limited ability of seniors to adapt to this type of distance meeting with their relatives. Apparently, these factors also infl uenced the lower frequency of video calls in the second wave of the pandemic (which is still in progress). In the interviews, the respondents described, for example, the drama of situations: senior clients meet their family members through an arranged technique that is 'operated' by a social worker. She must be present during the video call to assist and eliminate 'technical issues' . While the senior speaks to the screen, which he oft en sees poorly and does not hear the sound from the speaker due to hearing loss, the lack of haptic contact is 'replaced' by the social worker. She holds the senior's hand during the video call. In this spirit, Respondent No. 1 talked about the problem of 'haptic isolation' of senior clients. It is a feeling of loneliness arising from the absence of physical contact which a video call cannot solve. Th e respondents refl ected on the current vaccination of risk groups, as it is changing the way of experiencing the current diffi cult situation, and it gives hope to senior clients of the centre. At the same time, Respondent No. 1 mentioned that the vaccination of seniors is not a tool leading to the alleviation of current measures. Th is is, so far, a taboo in this institute for understandable reasons (the mental well-being of clients). Th e research survey by Nádvorníková and Kliment mentions that some social workers tended to take the situation lightly, underestimate it, and did not understand the necessity of quarantine measures. 29 Th e informants in our research believe that the opinion of individuals who tend to downplay the situation and the need for restrictive measures is limited by the lack of experience with more severe cases of the disease. Respondent No. 1 is of the opinion that discipline is appropriate: she argues using diffi cult cases from her surroundings and the fact that she became infected in social services and then passed the infection on to her family members. Th e respondents do not see (from the perspective of their experience in the helping profession) any signifi cant positives in situations caused by the current pandemic. Th ey defend their opinion mainly using the facts like frustration connected with the needs of clients in their workplace and fear for their loved ones. Statements given by respondents had an impressive overlap into interpersonal relationships in which the social worker is 'professionally involved' . While in some research probes focused on the pedagogical environment the situation is evaluated positively (for example, distance learning as a positive challenge for teachers and parents, the possibility of spending time together, etc. 30 ), in the DCC environment respondents evaluate the situation as very serious and diffi cult. Th e reason can be seen in the fact that the infection of clients in the centre is a potential life threat for the vulnerable group there. Th e respondents do not believe that the current crisis will help family members to refl ect on 'real values' and that the broken relationships (which the respondents witness) are harmonised again due to the relief of relatives realising that their loved one in the DCC survived the virus infection that could have been lethal. General recommendations for practice can be found in the materials that mapped the impacts on the mental health of workers in the helping professions. 31 In our article, it is possible, thanks to the statements of the respondents, to decipher the subtle nuances of practice in social services that the serious situation has brought. Th e respondents also refl ected on very diffi cult situations (clients dying, trying to encourage those who are suff ering due to the current emergency situation, etc.). We believe that the illustration of this practical experience can help to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the specifi cs and demands of the profession whose 'tool' is the human relationship and actions of specifi c individuals.