ENHANCING WORK EFFICACY OF SKILLED NURSING ASSISTANTS

描述（由申请人提供）：长期护理行业面临着人员危机，威胁到全国老年疗养院（NH）居民的护理质量。本研究针对这一问题，制定了一个可行的干预措施，以提高工作相关的效能感（感知控制）的护理助理（NAs）。据推测，那些觉得自己能够主动管理工作需求的新来港定居人士，会更积极、更有效地作出回应。这应该转化为减少营业额，提高工作绩效，因此，改善功能性健康和老年疗养院居民的生活质量。因此，本项目将制定一项多方面的干预措施，以提高新来港定居人士的工作效能。具体目标是：（1a）利用新来港定居人士的意见，发展提高成效的介入内容，包括照顾长者的基本知识、应付工作需要的策略，以及与同事、上司及住客互动的人际技巧;（1b）制定一项补充干预措施，旨在提高注册护士和执业/职业护士的认识（2）选择、发展和测试结果测量以评估干预效果;（3）对原型干预进行有限的现场测试。这些目标将在一个为期2年的发展研究项目中实现，该项目包括4项主要活动：通过与不同格鲁吉亚国家卫生机构的直接护理人员、管理人员和消费者进行定性和定量数据收集，生成内容;选择和/或制定自我报告和观察结果措施;制定干预措施，为NAs和专业护理人员提供协调的原型干预措施的手册和材料，并进行实地测试，以确保可行性，并收集反馈意见，以便在申请赠款时对干预措施进行微调，以便全面实施和评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term care industry faces a staffing crisis that threatens quality of care for elderly nursing home (NH) residents nationwide. This research addresses that problem by developing a feasible intervention to enhance work-related efficacy (perceived control) among nursing assistants (NAs). Presumably, NAs who feel able proactively to manage the demands of their jobs will respond more positively and effectively. This should translate to reduced turnover, improved job performance and, as a result, improved functional health and quality of life for elderly nursing home residents. This project will therefore develop a multifaceted intervention to enhance NAs' work-related efficacy. Specific aims are: (1a) to use NAs' own input to develop content for an efficacy-enhancing intervention targeting basic knowledge of care of the aged, strategies for dealing with work demands, and interpersonal skills for interacting with coworkers, supervisors, and residents; (1b) to develop a complementary intervention aimed at sensitizing registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPNs) to how their own attitudes and behaviors influence NAs' motiva- tion and performance, and teaching supervisory skills designed to enhance NAs' work efficacy; (2) to select, develop and test outcome measures to evaluate intervention effectiveness, and (3) to conduct a limited field test of a prototype intervention. These aims will be pursued in a 2-year developmental research project comprising 4 main activities: content generation through qualitative and quantitative data gathering with direct care staff, management, and consumers in diverse Georgia NHs; selection and/or development of self-report and observational outcome measures; intervention development, yielding manuals and materials for coordinated prototype interventions for NAs and professional nursing staff, and a field test to ensure feasibility and garner feedback for fine-tuning the intervention as a grant application is prepared for full-scale implementation and evaluation.