Elizabeth Mohnke
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
UROP Fellowship: Community College Summer Fellowship Program
Lansing Community College
Research Mentor(s): Alicia Carmichael, MS
Institute for Social Research
Presentation Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 | Session 3 | Presenter: 9
Authors: Mohnke, E. and Paratore, J.
Abstract
As of July 14, 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims about 3.5 million people within the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19. They also estimate about 34,791 of these cases have been hospitalized between March 1, 2020 and July 4, 2020. Additionally, roughly 40% of patients who spend time in the intensive care unit will be readmitted to the hospital within one year of their discharge. The resurgence in COVID-19 cases expected in the fall will coincide with these readmissions overtaxing a health care system that is already overwhelmed. There is a strong connection between hospital readmissions and the social support structure of patients and their caregivers. Therefore, it is important to strengthen the support for caregivers to prevent rehospitalizations. Our objective is to explore narratives of caregivers and care recipients to identify strengths and weaknesses of their journeys to minimize hospital readmission rates. We hope to improve upon existing shortcomings and share successful strategies to enhance the support structures for receiving care. We are using a two part qualitative study to explore the caregiver experience. One aspect of the study includes a series of in-depth interviews with 30 pairs of caregivers and their care recipients. Another component of the study includes a web portal where more people can share their COVID-19 stories. Information from both portions of the study will be analyzed. A transcription rubric was formed to ensure standard formatting across all of the interviews as they are processed using transcription software. A qualitative review committee was created for team members to discuss common themes they discover when analyzing interviews. We hope to receive information from caregivers and care recipients while keeping the sample representative of the population affected by COVID-19. The findings from our preliminary interviews reveal several themes we anticipate as we analyze additional interviews. Some of these themes include receiving instrumental support from friends, isolation due to separation between caregiver and care recipient during hospitalization, lack of instruction and information after being discharged from the hospital, the caregiver becoming sick while performing caregiving tasks and the care recipient having a positive outlook on life after their hospital experience. More themes may be identified as we analyze additional interviews. We understand some of these themes may already exist within the medical system while other themes are unique to the COVID-19 experience. We hope this study provides a foundational framework for additional research identifying recommended targets for enhancing the strengths and weaknesses of the caregiver and care recipient support system.
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Presentation Script
Research Disciplines
Social Sciences
