Understanding the Barriers to and Facilitators of Anxiety Management in Residents of Long-Term Care

Abstract

Older adults, 65 years of age and older, living in long-term care (LTC) commonly experience anxiety. This study aimed to understand care providers' perspectives on the barriers to and facilitators of managing anxiety in residents of LTC. Ten semi-structured interviews with care providers in LTC were completed. Framework analysis methods were used to code, thematically analyze, designate codes as barriers or facilitators, and map the codes to the Theoretical Domains Framework. Themes were categorized as acting at the resident, provider, or system level, and were labelled as either barriers to or facilitators of anxiety care. Key barriers to anxiety care at each level were resident cognitive impairment or co-morbidities; lack of staff education, staff treatment uptake and implementation; as well as the care delivery environment and access to resources. There is a need to prioritize measurement-based care for anxiety, have increased access to non-pharmacological treatments, and have a care delivery environment that supports anxiety management to improve the care for anxiety that is delivered to residents.