Digital contact after the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences of people with intellectual disabilities in sheltered care homes and their social network

During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, people with disabilities residing in long-term care facilities (approximately 70,000) were faced with restrictions for receiving visitors and visiting their loved ones. This had a significant impact on their well-being. Digital social contact such as video calling or social media was utilized more than before as an alternative to physical contact (Boeije et al., 2021; Chadwick et al., 2022; Nguyen et al., 2020). This also led to people who previously did not use digital contact methods to try them out, such as individuals with severe and multiple disabilities and their loved ones (Bakkum et al., 2023). People living in sheltered care homes and their loved ones used digital contact to stay in touch during this challenging period, as well as for practical assistance and entertainment (Bakkum et al., 2023).

In our earlier survey during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bakkum et al., 2023) we collected digital contact experiences of people with intellectual disabilities and their network. Now the corona restrictions are over, we are repeating an adapted version of our survey.

We aim to answer the following questions:
1. How do people with disabilities stay in contact with their relatives and visiting volunteers after the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, and how do people with disabilities, their relatives, visiting volunteers, support staff, and care facility managers experience these ways of staying in contact?
2. What are the current support needs and conditions for the use of digital contact, according to people with disabilities, their relatives, visiting volunteers, support staff, and care facility managers?
3. How are the current support, policy and resources for the use of digital contact (e.g. guidelines, digi-coaches) evaluated by people with disabilities, their relatives, visiting volunteers, support staff, and care facility managers?
4. What are the differences between the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) and the time after the restrictions (2024) in a) ways of staying in contact and experiences, b) support needs and conditions for the use of digital contact, and c) support, policy and resources for the use of digital contact?

Because participation in the previous survey was anonymous, we need to recruit participants again for participation through our network of partners from the participating academic workplaces. Comparisons between the two surveys on questions about the added value of digital contact and the availability of conditions for digital contract will be made.