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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The experiences of Indian migrant care home staff working with people with dementia
— a pilot study exploring cultural perspectives | | Author(s) | Brandon Ow Yong, Jill Manthorpe |
| Journal title | Working with Older People, vol 20, no 1, 2016 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2016 |
| Pages | pp 3-13 |
| Source | www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/wwop.htm |
| Keywords | Indian people ; Immigrants ; Care home staff ; Dementia ; Care homes ; Nursing homes ; Pilot ; Qualitative Studies ; London. |
| Annotation | Little is known about migrant Indian care workers working in long-term care facilities for people with dementia in England. In the light of political interest in immigration to the UK and continued staff shortages in parts of the social care sector, this paper aims to remedy such lack of information. This pilot study investigated the experiences of workplace acculturation among 12 migrant Indian care workers who were employed in English care homes. Qualitative face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2013. Analysis of the interviews was conducted using principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Five themes emerged from the analysis along an acculturation timeline. First, during the first six months of their employment, the migrant care workers recalled feeling vulnerable, seemingly marked by a sense of insecurity and an overwhelming state of cognitive burden within an unfamiliar cultural context. Second, simultaneously, the migrants felt perturbed about their new role as direct care workers. Third, few had been able to draw on their networks of friends and relatives to build up knowledge of their new work environments before starting care home employment. Fourth, two years into the work, although they reported feeling better adapted, psychological and socio-cultural adjustments were still thought to be needed. Fifth, most participants retained their ambition to be recognised as a qualified nurse in the UK, and to pursue a nursing career outside the social care sector. As this is a pilot study in which 12 migrant Indian care home workers were interviewed, further interviews might provide a greater range of views and experiences. The care homes that participated in this research were in the London region, where staff shortages are common in dementia services such as care homes. The findings suggest a need for employers and human resource managers to respond to the specific needs of Indian and other migrants working with older people resident in care homes. Such responses should reflect the timeline of their acculturation; and employers need also to acknowledge and address aspirations to move on to NHS work. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is unique in considering Indian care workers specifically as a substantial part of the migrant care workforce in the UK. It offers information about their perceptions, and suggests practical human response and managerial initiatives. (RH) |
| Accession Number | CPA-160311200 A |
| Classmark | TKKC: TJ: QRM: EA: KW: LHB: 4UC: 3DP: 82L |
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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