Supporting Rurally Dwelling Adults With Disabilities: The Experiences of Staff From Two Organisations in Western Australia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective

The COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities and people living in rural areas, worsening pre-existing inequalities. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of disability support staff providing support to people with disabilities in rural Western Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Setting

The two disability support organisations were located in a large rural town in Western Australia, approximately 400 km north of Perth.

Participants

Eleven employees from the organisations were recruited mid-2022 using non-random purposive sampling. Most participants were over the age of 40, two-thirds of the participants were female, and over half worked part time. Approximately half of the participants were administration and management staff, and around half had started working with their organisations less than 2 years prior to the research during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Two participants were recruited from one organisation, and the remaining nine participants were recruited from the other.

Design

This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured in-depth interviews. Three individual interviews and two group interviews were conducted via video-call software. Reflexive thematic analysis was used in data analysis.

Results

Four major themes were identified: (1) burden of the pandemic, (2) difficulties with government pandemic response, (3) unclear work boundaries and difficult choices and (4) adapting to COVID-19. Participants reported several positive outcomes of the pandemic, including increased service innovation and an improved sense of community.

Conclusion

Future pandemic response could be improved by early consultation with the disability sector, utilisation of appropriate communication channels and anticipation of challenges unique to rural Australia.