College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Appl Gerontol. 2024 Oct;43(10):1524-1535. doi: 10.1177/07334648241243312. Epub 2024 Apr 2.
Rapidly growing populations of older adults rely heavily on formal long-term care services such as those provided in nursing homes. Nursing home staff are confronted with complex challenges. We explored how staff ( = 88), particularly care aides, interpreted challenges and responded to them by taking adaptive leadership roles, and engaging in technical and adaptive work in nursing homes. We conducted analysis of the ethnographic case studies. In long-term care settings, staff face complex challenges in improving resident care due to contextual barriers. These include demanding work conditions and inadequate resources. Additionally, top-down communications, despite being well-intentioned, often lead to misinterpretation and a lack of staff motivation. Nonetheless, we found that certain staff managed to overcome these contextual barriers and effectively execute change initiatives by assuming adaptive leadership roles. Formal leaders have a vital role in empowering staff, including care aides, and facilitating their adaptive leadership behaviors.
快速增长的老年人口严重依赖于正式的长期护理服务，例如养老院提供的服务。养老院的工作人员面临着复杂的挑战。我们探讨了工作人员（=88 人），特别是护理助手，如何通过采取适应性领导角色、在养老院中进行技术和适应性工作来解释和应对这些挑战。我们对民族志案例研究进行了分析。在长期护理环境中，由于存在背景障碍，工作人员在改善居民护理方面面临着复杂的挑战。这些障碍包括苛刻的工作条件和资源不足。此外，尽管高层的沟通意图良好，但往往会导致误解和员工积极性不足。然而，我们发现某些工作人员通过承担适应性领导角色，成功克服了这些背景障碍，并有效地执行变革举措。正式的领导者在赋予员工权力方面发挥着重要作用，包括护理助手，并促进他们的适应性领导行为。
