Culture Shock: Exploring Ethnicity in the Nursing Home

拟议的试点研究包括与项目公告中列出的以下主题领域相关的研究：#3（种族/民族差异）和#23（老年人护理）。据报道，由于护理人员和辅助专业人员短缺，养老院的生活质量下降，因此提出了提高养老院人员配备水平的新举措。有充分的证据表明，注册护理助理（CNAs）面临着一系列的挑战，降低工作满意度，增加流动率，因此，对老年人护理的连续性和质量产生不利影响。由于相当多的CNAs是少数民族和移民工人，一个尚未在养老院研究的问题是种族多样性对CNAs工作满意度和保留的潜在影响。提出的试点研究是创新的，因为它迈出了探索养老院环境中的种族关系的第一步，特别是在不同级别的护理人员-护理主管和CNAs之间，以及这些关系如何影响工作满意度和保留一线养老院工作人员。拟议的项目包括在马萨诸塞州的养老院环境中发展和实施有色人种cna和护理主管的焦点小组，目的是增加对cna和护理主管之间的文化和种族问题和/或冲突的理解。此外，它探讨了这些问题可能对工作满意度和非专业劳动力的保留产生的影响。将分析焦点小组讨论的录音，以确定反复出现的主题。在这个试点项目完成后，将提交一份更大的提案，根据这些专业人员确定的需求，为注册护士和护理主管制定培训计划。第二阶段的建议还将在国家一级对培训方案进行系统评估。

The proposed pilot study consists of research relevant to the following topic areas listed in the Program Announcement: #3 (Racial/Ethnic Differences) and #23 (Care for Older People). New initiatives have been proposed to raise staffing levels in nursing homes, after reports of lower quality of life in these institution due to nursing and paraprofessional shortage. It is well documented that certified nursing assistants (CNAs) face a series of challenges that decrease job satisfaction, increase turnover and therefore, adversely affect continuity and quality of care for the elderly. In as much as a significant number of CNAs are minority and immigrant worker, one issue that has not been studied in nursing homes is the potential impact of ethnic diversity on job satisfaction and retention of CNAs. The proposed pilot study is innovative in that it takes a first step toward exploring racial relation in the nursing home environment, particularly among different levels of the nursing staff-nursing supervisors and CNAs and how those relationships affect job satisfaction and retention of frontline nursing home workers. The proposed project includes the development and implementation of focus groups with CNAs of color and nursing supervisors in nursing home settings in Massachusetts with goal of increasing the understanding of cultural and ethnic issues and/or conflicts among CNAs and nursing supervisors. Further, it explores what impact these issues may have on job satisfaction and retention of the paraprofessional workforce. Transcription of the focus group discussions will be analyzed to identify recurrent themes. At the completion of this pilot project, a larger proposal will be submitted to develop a training program for CNAs and nursing supervisor based on the needs identified by these professionals. The second phase proposal also will conduct a systematic assessment of the training program at a national level.