Field-workers' sense of coherence and perception of risk when making home visits.

This study explored the relationship between the strength of the sense of coherence (SOC) and perceptions of different aspects of risks perceived by field-workers making home visits for Medicare-certified home care agencies. SOC is the disposition that individuals have toward stimuli. Field-workers with a strong SOC identified fewer risk encounters, attributed a lower level of risk to characteristics of home visits that have the potential for injury, and evaluated fewer situations as having the potential to be threatening than their weak SOC counterparts. Strong SOC field-workers were prepared to use behaviors similar to those of their weak SOC counterparts to protect themselves from harm should a situation become threatening. Knowledge of the strength of the SOC of field-workers can be helpful in the screening, selection, and orientation of potential field-workers as well as in designing programs to enhance the safety of home health care agency staff.