Morton Elizabeth R, Zimmerman Sheryl, Efird-Green Lea, Davis Scott A
School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2025 Jul 12:105777. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105777.
Professional caregivers (ie, direct care workers) provide the majority of support for long-term care residents. Unfortunately, they have consistently high turnover, which is associated with low job satisfaction and decreased care quality. Most research on this topic has been conducted in nursing homes; in contrast, this study investigated relationships between staff satisfaction, burnout, and community and staff characteristics in assisted living (AL). Additionally, it evaluated the validity of the Direct Care Worker Job Satisfaction Scale in this population, a notable contribution to the literature.
Questionnaires completed by AL staff and administrators.
559 staff from 68 AL communities in North Carolina.
Staff reported satisfaction, burnout, and demographics. Administrators reported community characteristics. Correlations were computed for bivariate relationships among variables. The Direct Care Worker Job Satisfaction Scale was evaluated with a principal component analysis.
Staff reported satisfaction of 3.05 (scale 1-4; "satisfied"), and 18.5% were burned out; satisfaction and burnout were negatively correlated (adjusted -0.43, P < .001). Satisfaction was positively associated with the percent of residents with dementia (0.19, P < .001) and provision of special/memory care (0.17, P < .001); it was negatively associated with the staff-to-resident ratio (-0.18, P < .001) and presence of licensed nurses (-0.27, P < .001). Principal component analysis produced a single-factor solution with an eigenvalue of 10.8, the only eigenvalue above 1. All scale items loaded at least 0.70 on the single factor.
AL staff satisfaction and burnout are negatively associated, and almost one-fifth are burned out; the extent of burnout has not been reported previously and merits attention. Associations suggest caring for individuals with dementia may be particularly rewarding, while being responsible for more residents and working alongside nurses or with higher acuity residents may lessen satisfaction. These findings may inform approaches to staffing and have implications for resident well-being.
专业护理人员（即直接护理工作者）为长期护理机构的居民提供了大部分支持。不幸的是，他们的人员流动率一直很高，这与工作满意度低和护理质量下降有关。关于这一主题的大多数研究都是在养老院进行的；相比之下，本研究调查了辅助生活（AL）机构中员工满意度、职业倦怠与社区及员工特征之间的关系。此外，它还评估了直接护理工作者工作满意度量表在该人群中的有效性，这是对文献的一项显著贡献。
由AL机构的工作人员和管理人员填写问卷。
来自北卡罗来纳州68个AL社区的559名工作人员。
工作人员报告了满意度、职业倦怠和人口统计学信息。管理人员报告了社区特征。计算变量之间的双变量关系的相关性。通过主成分分析对直接护理工作者工作满意度量表进行评估。
工作人员报告的满意度为3.05（1 - 4分制；“满意”），18.5%的人出现职业倦怠；满意度和职业倦怠呈负相关（调整后为 -0.43，P <.001）。满意度与患有痴呆症的居民比例呈正相关（0.19，P <.001）以及提供特殊/记忆护理呈正相关（0.17，P <.001）；它与工作人员与居民的比例呈负相关（-0.18，P <.001）以及有执照护士呈负相关（-0.27，P <.001）。主成分分析产生了一个单因素解决方案，特征值为10.8，是唯一大于1的特征值。所有量表项目在单一因素上的载荷至少为0.70。
AL机构工作人员的满意度和职业倦怠呈负相关，近五分之一的人出现职业倦怠；职业倦怠的程度此前未被报道，值得关注。这些关联表明照顾患有痴呆症的个体可能特别有意义，而负责更多居民以及与护士一起工作或照顾病情更严重的居民可能会降低满意度。这些发现可能为人员配置方法提供参考，并对居民的福祉产生影响。
