Nursing Home Users And The Coronavirus Pandemic: Research Into Everyday Practices And Perceptions Of The New Normality

Abstract

Our paper deals with the research into the everyday life of the institutionally accommodated elderly and their attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic. After the pandemic was declared in March 2020, the elderly were recognized as a particularly vulnerable population. In their case, the risk of infection and fatal outcome was considered exceptional in comparison to other age groups. Both in our country and in many others, such discourse about the elderly gave rise to seemingly paternalistic, and repressive practices. Namely, their freedom of movement was restricted, while the ones in institutional care were deprived of direct contact with their family members and friends, all for health protection. According to our research hypothesis, this context determined their daily routines and formed their opinions about the danger of the coronavirus. Our research aimed to examine how the institutionally accommodated elderly lived their everyday lives within the context of the new normal and in what manner they perceived the newly arising situation. To find an answer to this question, we interviewed eight users of a Belgrade-based elderly home. The findings of the analysis show that their everyday practices have remained more or less unchanged in the conditions of the new normal, while the absence of any contact with the close ones and with the outside world was seen as painful. Our respondents faced fears, the most pronounced of which was the fear for the lives of the loved ones.