High-quality communication and feeling prepared for their jobs reduced the negative impact of work-related stress on the job satisfaction of direct care professionals during the pandemic, according to a new study from the LTSS Center.
A new research brief from the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston analyzes the factors associated with job satisfaction and intent to remain on the job among direct care professionals in nursing homes. The brief also recommends specific actions that nursing home leaders can take to support direct care professionals during stressful work times.
The research featured in Job Satisfaction and Intent to Remain on the Job among Direct Care Professionals in Nursing Homes was funded by the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation. Researchers analyzed data captured by WeCare ConnectTM, an employee engagement and management system created by Wellspring Lutheran Services, a Michigan-based LeadingAge member.
BACKGROUND
Direct care professionals working in nursing homes have faced a variety of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased workloads, understaffing, and the emotional burden of caring for residents facing COVID-related isolation, illness, and death. During the height of the pandemic, direct care professionals navigated their increasingly demanding jobs while also struggling with challenges outside the workplace, including separation from family members, personal needs, family demands, and financial hardship.
Faced with these and other challenges, some direct care professionals made the decision to leave their jobs. But others chose to stay. LTSS Center researchers Verena Cimarolli and Natasha Bryant set out to identify the factors influencing those decisions.
Cimarolli and Bryant examined the interrelationships between overall work stress experienced by direct care professionals during the pandemic; quality of employer communication around COVID-19; and direct care professionals’ job satisfaction, intent to remain on the job, and perceived preparedness to care for residents with COVID-19. They also sought to determine if organizational factors and stresses were associated with job satisfaction among direct care professionals.
KEY FINDINGS
Key findings from the study fall into three categories:
Importance of Job Satisfaction: After accounting for workplace characteristics, pandemic-related work stress, and pandemic-related employer supports, the only factor directly associated with intent to remain on the job was higher job satisfaction.
Contributors to Job Satisfaction: Direct care professionals with higher job satisfaction rates reported that their organizations provided high-quality communication and that they felt prepared to care for residents with COVID-19. High-quality communication and feeling prepared reduced the negative impact of work-related stress on job satisfaction.
Direct care professionals who had more optimal relationships with their supervisors, felt appreciated for the job they do by their employer, and worked at nursing homes with lower COVID-19 resident infection rates also reported higher job satisfaction, despite experiencing pandemic-related work stressors such as increased workload demands and understaffing.
Support for Direct Care Professionals: Most direct care professionals reported feeling appreciated for the job they do (76%) and comfortable and safe at work (92%). They also gave high marks to the quality of their relationship with their supervisor.
“Findings from this research reinforce the importance of implementing high-quality communication with direct care professionals, helping these professionals feel prepared to care for residents, and developing quality relationships between supervisors and direct care professionals,” conclude the authors. “It is also important that nursing homes address factors—including understaffing and increased workload—associated with staffing shortages.”
READ THE FULL REPORT
Find out more about this study by reading Job Satisfaction and Intent to Remain on the Job among Direct Care Professionals in Nursing Homes.
You can also read about the study in Geriatric Nursing and the Journal of Applied Gerontology. (Subscriptions required.)