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Scand J Caring Sci; 2020; 34: 501-513 The prevalence of young carersa standardised survey amongst school students (KiFam-study)Background: Children and adolescents who provide care, assistance or support for a chronically ill family member are called young carers. While there is a growing body of research about their specific situation, needs and impact of caring, only very few studies provide information on prevalence rates. Objectives: The aim was to provide prevalence data for young carers in Germany, and to describe and quantify the nature and extent of their help. Design: A cross-sectional study. Settings: Data collection took place between 2016 and 2017 in 44 secondary schools (fifth to 13th grade) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Participants: A total of 6313 students aged from 10 to 22 years participated in this study. They represent 0.5% of the basic population. Methods: Based on the results of a preliminary qualitative study, a standardised electronic questionnaire was developed, which comprised four subject areas: socio-demographic information, general daily aids, health-related quality of life and chronic illness within the family. Statistical analyses included chi-square tests for nominal data and univariate analyses of variance for metrical data together with 95% confidence intervals. Results: 19.6% (n = 1238) of all respondents state that someone in their family needs help due to a chronic illness. Nevertheless, not all of them are involved in caring activities. The prevalence of those defined as young carers in this study is 6.1% (n = 383), 64% are girls. They take on a wide range of activities. In addition to domestic work, they help their ill relatives with mobility, dressing and undressing, medication, feeding, personal hygiene and with intimate care. Conclusions: The data provide a good insight into the situation of young carers. The prevalence rate is higher than expected. It refers to the social relevance of this topic and the need for further investigations.

Many countries throughout the world are facing a serious nursing shortage, and retention of nurses also is a challenge. The aim of this study was to compare the predictive contribution of a broad spectrum of psychosocial work factors, including job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and alternative employment opportunity, to the probability of intention to leave the nursing profession. A total of 7,990 registered female nurses working in hospitals in eight countries (Germany, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, and China) were included in the one-year prospective study. A standardized questionnaire on job strain, effort-reward imbalance, employment opportunity, and intention to leave the nursing profession was used in the survey. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed that an imbalance between high effort and low reward (in particular, poor promotion prospects) and good employment opportunity at baseline were independently associated with a new intention to leave the nursing profession at follow-up. However, job strain appeared to have relatively less explanatory power. Findings suggest that interventions to improve the psychosocial work environment, especially the reciprocity experienced between effort and reward, may be effective in improving retention of nurses and tackling the international nursing shortage.

Aim: To describe attitudes towards caring for older people among nurses and student nurses in six participating countries. Background: Working with older people has historically had a negative profile and with a global rise in the numbers of older people and a global shortage of nurses, it is essential to recruit nurses into this area. This study gathered data from six countries to explore nurses and student nurses attitudes to nursing older people and to gerontological nursing as a career. Method: A convenience sample of 1064 nursing students and 2585 nurses in six countries answered the Multifactorial Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ) designed to elicit attitudes towards caring for older people and to the esteem that comes with working in this field. The MAQ consists of seven positive and 13 negative statements and uses a Likert scale. A higher total score indicates a more positive attitude. Results: Differences in attitudes among the six counties was observed for both nursing students and for nurses (<.001). Nursing students in Scotland and USA had the highest mean scores and Slovenia and Sweden were the countries with the lowest mean score. The highest score for nurses were reported in Scotland and Sweden and lowest in Germany and Japan. Conclusion: From the findings, it is suggested that formal nursing education to students between 18-29 years of age has high importance for positive attitudes towards working with older people.

BackgroundPrevious cross-sectional findings from the European Nurses Early Exit Study (NEXT) show that nurses who were dissatisfied with their work schedule tended to consider leaving the nursing profession. Mediating factors in this decision process may be caused by self-perceived poor work ability and/or health. The aim of this paper is to investigate changes in work ability and general health among nurses in relation to requested, forced and denied change of shift schedule.MethodsLongitudinal data from the NEXT Study was used. In total 11,102 nurses from Belgium, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, France and Italy completed both the ‘basic questionnaire’ (t1) and the ’12 month follow-up questionnaire’ (t2). To examine the time-effect (repeated measures) and the group-effect of five defined groups of nurses on the Work Ability Index (WAI) and general health (SF36), an adjusted 2-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed.ResultsThe nurses who wanted to, but could not change their shifts during the 12 month follow-up had the lowest initial and follow-up scores for WAI (t1: 37.6, t2: 36.6, p <0.001), lowest general health (t1: 63.9, t2: 59.2, p <0.001) and showed the highest decrease in both outcomes. Shift pattern change in line with the nurses’ wishes was associated with improved work ability and to a lesser comparatively low extent with increased decline in health scores. A forced change of shift against the nurses’ will was significantly associated with a deteriorating work ability and health.ConclusionsThe findings would suggest that nurses’ desire to change their shift patterns may be an indicator for perceived low work ability and/or low health. The results also indicate that fulfilling nurses’ wishes with respect to their shift work pattern may improve their personal resources such as work ability and – to somewhat lesser extent – health. Disregarding nurses’ preferences, however, bears the risk for further resource deterioration. The findings imply that shift schedule organization may constitute a valuable preventive tool to promote nurses’ work ability and – to lesser extent – their perceived health, not least in aging nursing work forces.