Ayalon Liat
School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Israel.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2008 Jun;20(3):521-37. doi: 10.1017/S1041610207006175. Epub 2007 Sep 17.
The potentially negative consequences associated with providing care to older adults are well documented. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the positive aspects associated with caregiving. Both aspects are believed to represent a continuum of caregiving experiences. Long-term care (LTC) staff members often report high levels of burnout associated with their work. Whereas several job characteristics and objective indicators of socioeconomic status have been identified as potential predictors of LTC staff caregiving experiences, the role of subjective socioeconomic status (i.e. one's view of one's place in society) has not yet been evaluated.
A cross-sectional design of 122 LTC staff members. LTC staff completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Positive Aspects of Caregiving questionnaire. They also completed questions about job characteristics (i.e. staff-to-resident ratio, number of hours worked per day, and years of experience working with older adults), objective sociodemographic variables (i.e. level of education, professional affiliation), and subjective socioeconomic indicator (i.e. MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to identify the unique contribution of job characteristics, objective socioeconomic status, and subjective socioeconomic status to LTC staff caregiving experiences.
Subjective socioeconomic status remained a significant predictor of LTC staff experience even once job characteristics and objective indicators of socioeconomic status were entered into the model. Those who placed themselves higher on the subjective social ladder reported higher levels of positive caregiving experiences and lower levels of burnout.
Building a sense of community identity and improving one's status within the community might result in lower levels of burnout and better caregiving experiences among LTC staff.
为老年人提供护理所带来的潜在负面后果已有充分记录。最近，人们对护理的积极方面越来越感兴趣。这两个方面都被认为代表了护理经历的一个连续体。长期护理（LTC）工作人员经常报告与其工作相关的高度倦怠。虽然已经确定了几个工作特征和社会经济地位的客观指标作为长期护理工作人员护理经历的潜在预测因素，但主观社会经济地位（即一个人对自己在社会中地位的看法）的作用尚未得到评估。
对122名长期护理工作人员进行横断面设计。长期护理工作人员完成了马氏倦怠量表和护理积极方面问卷。他们还完成了关于工作特征（即工作人员与居民的比例、每天工作的小时数以及与老年人一起工作的年数）、客观社会人口统计学变量（即教育水平、专业隶属关系）和主观社会经济指标（即麦克阿瑟主观社会地位量表）的问题。进行分层回归分析，以确定工作特征、客观社会经济地位和主观社会经济地位对长期护理工作人员护理经历的独特贡献。
即使将工作特征和社会经济地位的客观指标纳入模型，主观社会经济地位仍然是长期护理工作人员经历的一个重要预测因素。那些在主观社会阶梯上给自己定位较高的人报告的积极护理经历水平较高，倦怠水平较低。
建立社区认同感并提高自己在社区中的地位可能会降低长期护理工作人员的倦怠水平，并带来更好的护理体验。
