ENHANCING WORK EFFICACY OF SKILLED NURSING ASSISTANTS

描述(由申请人提供)：长期护理行业面临人员危机，威胁到全国养老院(NH)居民的护理质量。这项研究通过开发一种可行的干预措施来提高护理助理(NAS)的工作相关效能感(感知控制)来解决这一问题。想必，那些认为有能力主动管理工作需求的新员工会做出更积极、更有效的回应。这将转化为减少营业额，改善工作绩效，从而改善养老院老人的功能健康和生活质量。因此，该项目将开发一种多方面的干预措施，以提高NAS的工作效率。具体目标是：(1a)利用NAS自身的意见，为针对老年人护理基本知识、处理工作需求的策略以及与同事、主管和住院医生互动的人际技能的增效干预制定内容；(1b)开发旨在使注册护士(RN)和执业/职业护士(LPN)敏感地认识到他们自己的态度和行为如何影响NAS的动机和业绩的补充干预措施，以及旨在提高NAS工作效率的教学监督技能；(2)选择、开发和测试用于评估干预效果的结果测量；(3)进行原型干预的有限现场测试。这些目标将在一个为期两年的发展研究项目中实现，该项目包括4项主要活动：通过与佐治亚州不同NHS的直接护理人员、管理层和消费者收集定性和定量数据来生成内容；选择和/或制定自我报告和观察性结果衡量标准；制定干预措施，为NAS和专业护理人员协调原型干预措施编制手册和材料；以及进行实地测试，以确保可行性并获得反馈，以便在为全面实施和评估赠款申请做准备时微调干预措施。

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.