[Mental stress and strain of employees in long-term nursing of dementia patients : Outpatient dementia housing communities vs. segregated living areas in residential geriatric nursing].

After a pilot study in 2010 in segregated wards for patients with dementia in nursing homes (DWB) and in community-based living communities for older people with dementia (DWG), major differences in the proportion of mentally stressed employees were found (DWB: 57%, DWG: 26%) as well as in the proportion of employees with mental strain (DWB: 55%; DWG: 33%). Nearly the same result was achieved in a representative sample across Germany (n = 1272 employees) in the year 2017 for mental stress (DWB: 58%, DWG: 29%) and mental strain (DWB 51%, DWG: 35%). A further 12 aspects concerning mental stress also showed in practically all areas that employees in DWB were frequently more often stressed than those in DWG. Differences between the two types of institutions with respect to facility-related characteristics (infrastructure and resident structure) as well as sociodemographic variables of employees could barely explain these differences.