Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Gerontologist. 2023 Jul 18;63(6):1028-1038. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnac190.
A multifaceted construct called occupational communion (OC), defined as a sense of belonging based on social interaction at work, has been proposed to understand why care workers were positively engaged in their jobs over time, even though they were very demanding. Rich qualitative data on the multiple aspects of OC in care work exist, but a valid measure does not.
We applied a mixed-method systematic scale development process to measure OC. Aged and dementia care workers in Australia (76%) and other countries participated in a focus group and online surveys (N = 2,451). We also used interview data from our prior study. The study involved 3 components: (1) scale development and design; (2) pilot test validation with exploratory factor analysis; and (3) confirmatory validation via confirmatory factor analysis. The third component assessed convergent and discriminant validity using measures of communion, self-efficacy, work engagement, job and life satisfaction, intention to leave, positive and negative affect, and mood.
We developed a 28-item Occupational Communion Scale (OCS) with good internal consistency (composite reliability = 0.75-0.91) across 6 factors: (1) "natural" carer, (2) psychological need to care, (3) connection with clients, (4) connection with coworkers, (5) desire for more connection, and (6) blurred boundaries. All validity measures correlated with OC and work engagement, self-efficacy, and positive affect showed the strongest association.
The OCS can be used to design and evaluate interventions addressing aged care workforce engagement, social connections and well-being, and care outcomes.
职业共融（OC）是一个多方面的概念，定义为基于工作中的社会互动而产生的归属感，它被提出是为了理解为什么护理人员在工作中即使面临巨大的压力，也能长期保持积极的工作态度。关于护理工作中 OC 的多个方面存在丰富的定性数据，但缺乏有效的衡量标准。
我们应用混合方法系统量表开发过程来衡量 OC。澳大利亚（76%）和其他国家的老年和痴呆症护理人员参与了焦点小组和在线调查（N=2451）。我们还使用了我们之前研究的访谈数据。该研究包括 3 个部分：（1）量表的开发和设计；（2）通过探索性因素分析进行试点验证；（3）通过验证性因素分析进行确认性验证。第 3 部分使用共融、自我效能、工作投入、工作和生活满意度、离职意向、积极和消极情绪以及情绪等衡量标准评估收敛和区别效度。
我们开发了一个 28 项的职业共融量表（OCS），在 6 个因素上具有良好的内部一致性（综合可靠性=0.75-0.91）：（1）“自然”护理者，（2）护理的心理需求，（3）与客户的联系，（4）与同事的联系，（5）更多联系的愿望，以及（6）模糊的界限。所有有效性衡量标准与 OC 和工作投入、自我效能和积极情绪相关，与后者的关联最强。
OCS 可用于设计和评估干预措施，以解决老年护理人员的工作投入、社会联系和幸福感以及护理结果问题。
