“You’re not just there to do a job”: a qualitative examination of Canadian long-term care worker strengths

Research on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care workers has largely emphasized the negative outcomes of crisis conditions and workforce distress, leaving strengths-based perspectives on workers’ experiences during this period underexplored. Recognizing the potential of strengths-focused inquiry to inform sector transformation and workforce renewal, we conducted a secondary qualitative analysis of Canadian long-term care worker experiences during the pandemic using an Appreciative Inquiry lens to examine and more fully represent workers’ strengths. A qualitative secondary analysis was conducted using an Appreciative Inquiry theoretical lens. Data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic through semi-structured interviews with 50 long-term care staff members spanning diverse roles across 12 facilities in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Transcripts were analysed thematically in a process of moving from inductive familiarisation to deliberate application of an appreciative lens to identify successes, assets, and positive capacities within the long-term care workforce. We present three themes identifying interlocking expressions of strength. First, during crisis, workers stretched roles, redistributed tasks, and supported one another to sustain care under extreme constraint. Second, staff upheld person-centred care in their daily actions, working from values of dignity, relationships, and residents’ goals. Third, workers translated experience into learning and advocacy, articulating ideas to improve staffing, role clarity, leadership practices, and visitation approaches. Across these expressions, workers’ tenacity, togetherness, and shared purpose enabled collective action, although these strengths often entailed costs such as fatigue and moral strain. Our findings add to existing literature on long-term care worker experiences during the pandemic by demonstrating that workers’ capacities for adaptability, person-centred care, and advocacy are vital assets for sector renewal. While amplifying and supporting worker strengths can enable meaningful transformation, these strengths alone cannot substitute for systemic investment and reform. To sustain care quality, workforce well-being, and crisis preparedness, interventions and policy design should embed worker perspectives to advance recognition and resourcing of their contributions. Deeper renewal also requires rewriting longstanding public narratives that undervalue LTC work.