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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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A restorative home care intervention in New Zealand
— perceptions of paid caregivers | | Author(s) | Anna I I King, Matthew Parsons, Elizabeth Robinson |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 20, no 1, January 2012 |
| Pages | pp 70-79 |
| Source | http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/hscc |
| Keywords | Home care services ; Paid welfare workers ; Training [welfare work] ; Recruitment ; Staff turnover ; Job satisfaction ; New Zealand. |
| Annotation | Paid caregivers provide a vital role in home care services but there are widespread recruitment and retention issues due to poor working conditions and inadequate training. The aim of this study was to explore paid caregiver perceptions of a restorative home care intervention. Caregivers were recruited from a home care agency in Auckland, New Zealand and randomised to either the control or the intervention group. The intervention group undertook two specialised training programmes based on a restorative care philosophy designed to optimise independence in older people. Focus groups were undertaken with the caregivers, two at baseline and two after 14 months. Two themes emerged from both the control and intervention focus groups: relationship with older people and issues with home care service delivery. A further two themes were pertinent to the intervention group: job satisfaction and pre-intervention. The findings reveal the intervention had a substantial positive impact on paid caregiver job satisfaction in comparison with usual care. This appeared to be due to improved training, increased support and supervision, and more flexibility. The intervention also resulted in substantially reduced staff turnover in comparison with usual home care. However both groups identified the need for further improvements to their working conditions. The need to regulate this vulnerable workforce is discussed. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-120824006 A |
| Classmark | NH: QP: QW: WK6: WJ7: WL5: 7YN |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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