Ethical Issues for Practice and Research in Congregate Settings During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Cases and Commentaries

Abstract

This paper comprises two cases illustrating ethical challenges experienced by people working with residents and staff in congregate settings (residential homes) during Covid-19. In congregate settings restrictions were more stringent due to residents' vulnerability and high risks of the virus spreading. In the first case, a UK social worker recounts his proactive advocacy on behalf of a young woman living in residential care, enabling easing of some restrictions for her. In the second case, a German researcher discusses how limits on entering nursing homes resulted in postponing and then ending a participatory research project, with the researcher regretting loss of contact with a home. Following each case is a commentary from an outsider's perspective. Both authors foreground their responsibilities to care about people facing difficult circumstances and to take action for change. This suggests that situated approaches to ethics, focussing on particular people, roles and relationships in context (such as the ethics of care and virtue ethics) are helpful in understanding the ethical challenges described. The cases illustrate the extra cognitive and practical effort required to engage in ethical reflection on the implications of new circumstances, in which taken-for-granted ways of being, thinking and acting are difficult or impossible.

Participatory Action Research Challenges Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Comparison across Two European Projects

“…The most common examples are those that forced a digital transition, as previously mentioned, but there were also instances of specific activities being made impossible and having to be eliminated. This was the case for several researchers who could no longer enter facilities after the pandemic was decreed, being unable to travel to study sites and unable to contact participants to distribute equipment [38,39,48,49].…”

“…Another project, described by Banks and von Köppen [38], encountered challenges due to the specific nature of the environment in which they were conducting research. In their case, in a nursing home in Germany, the facilities did not have the necessary technological equipment to allow for the residents to participate in online participatory events.…”

“…Even more concerning are the cases where research projects suffered more drastic effects. Banks and von Köppen [38], for example, describe how the previously mentioned difficulties led to the research being left unfinished. Similarly, Swinson and Henderson [55] claim to have been unable to continue their research after the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted, and Grace et al [44] noted their results were compromised by the pandemic situation, invalidating their research altogether.…”

Pandemic ethics and beyond: Creating space for virtues in the social professions

“…While the social worker in case example 1 had to fill gaps in government guidance using his own judgement, the social worker in the next case example made great efforts to create space for discretion in the application of local authority restrictions on residents in children’s homes. Case example 2 is an extract from an account by a therapeutic social worker working with looked after children (LAC) in a local authority (the full account with a commentary can be found in Banks and von Köppen 21 ).…”