{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T12:26:03Z","timestamp":1753878363730,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,3]],"date-time":"2025-03-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1740960000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Australian J Rural Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>The COVID\u201019 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities and people living in rural areas, worsening pre\u2010existing 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\u201019 pandemic.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title><jats:p>The two disability support organisations were located in a large rural town in Western Australia, approximately 400\u2009km north of Perth.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title><jats:p>Eleven employees from the organisations were recruited mid\u20102022 using non\u2010random purposive sampling. Most participants were over the age of 40, two\u2010thirds 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\u2009years prior to the research during the COVID\u201019 pandemic in 2020. Two participants were recruited from one organisation, and the remaining nine participants were recruited from the other.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Design<\/jats:title><jats:p>This qualitative study was conducted using semi\u2010structured in\u2010depth interviews. Three individual interviews and two group interviews were conducted via video\u2010call software. Reflexive thematic analysis was used in data analysis.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>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\u201019. Participants reported several positive outcomes of the pandemic, including increased service innovation and an improved sense of community.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/ajr.70023","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]],"date-time":"2025-03-11T15:20:20Z","timestamp":1741706420000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Supporting Rurally Dwelling Adults With Disabilities: The Experiences of Staff From Two Organisations in Western Australia During the <scp>COVID<\/scp>\u201019 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"33","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-2098-9010","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zoe","family":"Lawrence\u2010Haughey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Population and Global Health The University of Western Australia  Crawley Western Australia Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Monica","family":"Moran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Western Australian Centre for Rural Health, School of Allied Health The University of Western Australia  Geraldton Western Australia Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rohan","family":"Rasiah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Western Australian Centre for Rural Health, School of Allied Health The University of Western Australia  Geraldton Western Australia Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Barbara","family":"Nattabi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Population and Global Health The University of Western Australia  Crawley Western Australia Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_13_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1744133121000244"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_3_1","unstructured":"Western Australian Department of Health \u201cCOVID\u201019 Weekly Surveillance Report 11 July to 17 July 2022 \u201d2022 https:\/\/www.health.wa.gov.au\/Articles\/F_I\/Infectious\u2010disease\u2010data\/COVID19\u2010Weekly\u2010Surveillance\u2010Report."},{"key":"e_1_2_13_4_1","unstructured":"Department of the Premier and Cabinet \u201cWA's Border Opening From Thursday 3 March 2022 \u201d2022 https:\/\/www.wa.gov.au\/government\/announcements\/was\u2010border\u2010opening\u2010thursday\u20103\u2010march\u20102022."},{"key":"e_1_2_13_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2020.559905"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/hpja.450"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_7_1","unstructured":"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare \u201cPeople With Disability in Australia \u201d2024 https:\/\/www.aihw.gov.au\/reports\/disability\/people\u2010with\u2010disability\u2010in\u2010australia\/contents\/summary."},{"key":"e_1_2_13_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.47326\/ocsat.2021.02.35.1.0"},{"volume-title":"COVID\u201019 Mortality in Australia, Deaths Registered to 31 January 2022","year":"2022","author":"Australian Bureau of Statistics","key":"e_1_2_13_9_1"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_10_1","unstructured":"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare \u201cRural and Remote Health \u201d2022 https:\/\/www.aihw.gov.au\/reports\/rural\u2010remote\u2010australians\/rural\u2010and\u2010remote\u2010health."},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_13_11_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Powerless Facing the Wave of Change: The Lived Experience of Providing Services in Rural Areas Under the National Disability Insurance Scheme","volume":"19","author":"Dintino R.","year":"2019","journal-title":"Rural and Remote Health"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_12_1","unstructured":"National Disability Insurance Scheme \u201cBecoming an NDIS Provider \u201d2023 https:\/\/www.ndis.gov.au\/providers\/becoming\u2010ndis\u2010provider."},{"key":"e_1_2_13_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5694\/mja2.50690"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12939\u2010021\u201001506\u20102"},{"key":"e_1_2_13_15_1","unstructured":"Australian Government Department of Social ServicesandAustralian Government Department of the Treasury \u201cNational Disability Insurance Scheme Act \u201d2013. 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