A new research project funded by Aging in America Inc. will help the LTSS Center explore why nursing home employees have left their jobs during the pandemic.
Nursing homes are currently facing an unprecedented crisis due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, a virus that is particularly challenging and potentially fatal for older adults and individuals with complex medical conditions.
A new study by the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston will explore the impact of COVID-19 on another group: nursing home employees, especially direct care workers who are on the frontlines providing hands-on care. These workers are particularly vulnerable to the health risks of COVID-19 because they have daily exposure to COVID patients and because many workers live in areas with high COVID-19 infection rates.
Not surprisingly, turnover rates for nursing home workers have increased during the pandemic. However, little is known about the specific reasons why nursing home workers quit their jobs during these trying times.
A TWO-PHASE STUDY
The LTSS Center recently formed a partnership with WeCare ConnectTM to study the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce employed by LeadingAge members. WeCare ConnectTM is a program/service used by aging services providers at more than 1,000 locations to collect ongoing feedback from new and existing employees, and employees who resign. Managers use this information to develop real-time solutions that help reduce turnover and improve retention.
During the first phase of the collaboration, the LTSS Center asked WeCare ConnectTM to add questions to its employee interview battery during May 2020. The questions were designed to assess employees’ perceptions of organizational COVID-19 preparedness and communication, as well as internal and external stresses experienced by employees. Researchers are currently working to analyze this data.
During the second phase of the project, funded by Aging in America Inc., researchers will identify nursing home employees who answered the COVID-related questions in May and subsequently resigned from their jobs. Researchers will use COVID-related data from the May 2020 interviews, and data on the reasons employees gave for resigning, to explore the following research questions:
- What are the specific pandemic-related reasons employees report for why they resigned?
- What are the specific COVID-related stresses and challenges assessed in May 2020 that are associated with the decision of nursing home workers to resign from their jobs during the pandemic?
- Do these specific challenges and stresses vary by type of nursing home employee?
- How does the quality of employer preparedness and communication around COVID-19 impact the decision of workers to resign from the job?
IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH
Study results will provide important insights into which COVID-related challenges are responsible for nursing home employee turnover, according to Verena Cimarolli, senior health services research associate.
“This information will help nursing homes identify areas where they can possibly provide help with specific challenges faced by workers—such as lack of childcare—in order to reduce turnover,” she says. “Information gained from this research will also help nursing homes identify potential training needs and possible communication deficits that they need to address in order to prevent workers from resigning.”