Who are given specialised care during the Covid-19 pandemic? Biological age as an assessment reference for people in various ages in decisions on care or nursing interventions

The covid-19 pandemic highlighted assessments of care needs related to biological age, due to limited resources in specialized care facilities.

This project concerns the circulation, interpretation, and usage of ‘biological age’ in policy documents and assessments of care for people of various ages during the pandemic.

Also, the experiences and moral consequences of these assessments in professionals are targeted.A mixed-methods design is used utilizing 1) public documents and focus group discussions in three counties, and 2) individual interviews with staff members involved in decision-making regarding referring people of various ages to specialized care.

The data is collected within emergency-, primary- and home health care services, and within care homes.

The approach is explorative, hence complementary data may be added over time, in order to get a deeper understanding of the findings.The results are disseminated at national and international conferences and collaborations that the researchers are part of, and in international peer-reviewed articles.

Other means of proliferation, as exhibitions in libraries and public displays, and easily accessible articles targeting the public will also be carried out. The project is characterized by a rigor of methodology and theory, while being practice-based.

Various social actors from the professional and voluntary field, unions and user organizations, are collaborative partners during various stages of the project.