Psychosocial work load and stress in the geriatric care

Abstract

BackgroundDue to the decrease in informal care by family members and the demographic development, the importance of professional geriatric care will rise considerably. Aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial workplace situation for employees in this profession.MethodsThe German version of the COPSOQ (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire) was used for the assessment of psychosocial factors at work. The instrument includes 22 scales and 3 single items concerning demands, control, stress, support, and strain.Results between two study groups of geriatric care were compared to each other as well as to employees in general hospital care and a general population mean (COPSOQ database).Statistical analysis included t-tests, ANOVA and multiple comparisons of means. Statistical significance (p < 0.01, two-tailed) and a difference of at least 5 points in mean values were defined as the relevant threshold.ResultsIn total 889 respondents from 36 institutions took part in the study. 412 worked in Home Care (HC), 313 in Geriatric Nursing Homes (GNH), 164 in other professions (e.g. administration).Comparison between HC and GNH showed more favourable values for the first group for the most scales, e.g. lower quantitative and emotional demands and less work-privacy conflict, better possibilities for development etc. Compared to external values from the German COPSOQ database for general hospital care (N = 1.195) and the total mean across all professions, COPSOQ-total (N = 11.168), the results are again positive for HC workers on most of the scales concerning demands and social support. The only negative finding is the very low amount of social relations at work due to the obligation to work alone most of the time. Employees in GNH rate predictability, quality of leadership and feedback higher when compared to general hospital care and show some further favourable mean values compared to the COPSOQ mean value for all professions. A disadvantage for GNH is the high rating for job insecurity.A supplementary subgroup analysis showed that the degree of negative evaluation of psychosocial factors concerning demands was related to the amount of working hours per week and the number of on-call duties.ConclusionsCompared to employees in general hospital care and the COPSOQ overall mean value across all professions, geriatric care employees and especially home care workers evaluate their psychosocial working situation more positive for most aspects. However, this seems partly due to the very high proportion of part-time workers. Critical results for the two study groups are the relatively high job insecurity in nursing homes and the lack of social relations for the HCrs.

Uncovering the care setting–turnover intention relationship of geriatric nurses

“…time pressure) (Hasson and Arnetz 2007;Kromark et al 2009;Tummers et al 2013). Moreover, nurses in nursing homes have more social interrelations at work (Nübling et al 2010), yielding more social support (Kromark et al 2009) but also more social conflicts (Simon et al 2005;Tummers et al 2013; but see Nübling et al 2010). Notably, the abovementioned factors have all been confirmed to be antecedents of nurses' turnover attitudes and behaviour (Flinkman et al 2010;Hayes et al 2012;Nei et al 2015).…”

“…Notably, the abovementioned factors have all been confirmed to be antecedents of nurses' turnover attitudes and behaviour (Flinkman et al 2010;Hayes et al 2012;Nei et al 2015). So far, large studies have failed to show a direct relationship between geriatric care setting and leaving intentions (Hasselhorn et al 2003;Nübling et al 2010;Tummers et al 2013). A plausible explanation for this might be mediator effects and buffering factors.…”

“…Home care offers benefits for geriatric nurses as well, for instance more flexible working hours (Gregersen 2005). Nurses in home care have more privileged working conditions than those in nursing homes (Nübling et al 2010;Wendsche et al 2014). For example, nurses in home care experience more autonomy as well as less physical and psychological demands (e.g.…”

“…We expected task identity to be experienced more often in home care-where nurses usually work individuallycompared to nursing homes, where they mostly work in teams (Gregersen 2005;Nübling et al 2010). The Job Characteristics Model (Hackman and Oldham 1976), the Action Regulation Theory (Hacker 2003), and the JD-R model (Bakker and Demerouti 2007) regard task identity as a job resource that positively influences job satisfaction and mental health (Humphrey et al 2007).…”

Health and safety matters! Associations between organizational practices and personal support workers’ life and work stress in Ontario, Canada

“…However, for those working part-time hours, there was low stress [11]. Similarly in US, a study of female nursing home assistants showed that the odds of adverse mental health increased with increased hours of work [42].…”