Nursing Home Employees:Community Ecology and Retention

Virginia Polytechnic Inst And St Univ, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

Studies of retention among nursing home employees report varying rates, however, the story is consistent: turnover, particularly among nursing services, is high. Turnover negatively effects continuity and quality of care and is costly for a service industry already facing economic challenges To date, authors of numerous commentaries and descriptive studies have focused their attention on factors related to staff turnover. What has yet to emerge from this literature is a rigorous and valid process to determine the reasons motivating such attrition to guide the development and implementation of successful facility-based intervention strategies. The overall goal of this pilot study is to determine the feasibility of using an ecological-community capacity model, an approach that accounts for individual, family, and community influences on retention in the long term care workplace, to identify key relationships among and between multiple variables that influence retention of nursing home employees. The sample for this pilot study will be the approximately 125 employees of one longterm care facility. Multiple methods will be used to collect data in support of the proposed assessment model including structured, self-report questionnaires to the nursing, dietary, and housekeeping staff, semi-structured interviews with key administrators, and a review of written personnel documents. Primary research questions guiding the study are: (1) What individual, family, and community variables are most descriptive of nursing home employees? (2) What are the relationships between individual, family, and community factors and retention-related outcomes (such as job satisfaction and retention intentions)? (3) What relationships exist between individual, family, and community factors and retention itself (direct effects), aside from their relationships with the retention-related outcomes (indirect effects)? (4) What is the relationship between retention-related outcomes and actual retention? Using the information and insights garnered from this pilot study, our long-term goal is to use the assessment model in the development of intervention strategies for building community capacity within the nursing home environment.