"Nobody but a family member can do it quite the same way": Understanding the meaning of mealtimes to residents and families in long-term care homes during the pandemic.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Meals in long term care (LTC) are essential to residents not only for nutrition and their physical well-being, but also for their social interactions supporting resident quality of life. This study aims to understand the mealtime experiences of residents and family care partners during the COVID-19 pandemic when restrictions were put in place in LTC and retirement homes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Interpretive description analysis of qualitative interviews in LTC and retirement homes, with 17 family care partners and 4 residents. Convenience and snowball sampling used to recruit participants for telephone interviews.

RESULTS: Three themes were generated. Compromised mealtimes mean compromising community - meals were seen by participants as a key social and community-building event of the home; they reported this loss of community with pandemic restrictions. Participants noted that Family care partners are indispensable at meals for social, psychological and physical support. The dangers of eating alone spoke to the social isolation reported by participants that occurred during the pandemic and the risks they described of eating alone.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This study confirms the importance of mealtimes in LTC and retirement homes to community building and extends our understanding of the importance of family inclusion at meals and why eating alone, as happened during COVID-19, was so detrimental to residents. Effort needs to be made to value this communal activity for the well-being of residents.