{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T21:24:07Z","timestamp":1769462647877,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769385600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Canada\u2019s ageing population continues to grow rapidly and significantly more diverse, which will require unique health and home service needs. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing challenges in Canada\u2019s healthcare system and demonstrated the need for long-term care (LTC). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 decision makers, managers, and leaders in long-term ethnically focused facility care. Braun &amp; Clarke\u2019s six-stage process of thematic analysis was applied using an iterative, deductive approach to examine the experiences of stakeholders involved in the operational, managerial, financial, and clinical aspects of an ethnicity-focused LTC. Findings highlighted salient characteristics of impactful ethnicity-focused care and factors were uniquely shaped by the delivery of culturally specific care. Key subthemes included social isolation and emotional impact, operational and logistic difficulties during COVID-19, mitigation measures implemented in response, and the social, behavioural, and health benefits observed among seniors living in these LTC homes. Participants identified political and economic constraints (e.g., provincial funding) to establishing ethnicity-focused care homes but proposed several solutions and highlighted potential benefits that could support successful implementation. Analysis of experiences of operational challenges in safely and adequately running ethnicity-focused LTC reinforces the value of ethnicity-focused LTC during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as they provide a culturally safe and familiar space with preventive measures applied in a timely manner for seniors to engage with their peers in an environment that meets their health needs, ensuring safety standards.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph23020152","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T11:14:07Z","timestamp":1769426047000},"page":"152","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Operating Ethnicity-Focused Senior Long-Term Care Homes in Ontario, Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5142-6683","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anukrati","family":"Nigam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Collaborative Program in Neuroscience, Institute of Medical Science, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3K3, Canada"},{"name":"SoundLife Scarborough, Department of Arts, Culture, and Media, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada"},{"name":"Association for Socially Applicable Research, Pune 411007, Maharashtra, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7860-183X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Chin-See","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kirolos","family":"Nour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9524-1146","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Akshaya Neil","family":"Arya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8P 1H6, Canada"},{"name":"School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2025, November 03). 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