<p>Dementia Care Education Targeting Job Strain and Organizational Climate Among Dementia Care Specialists in Swedish Home Care Services</p>

Abstract

Introduction: An increasing number of older persons live at home with various limitations, such as dementia, requiring well-educated and trained home care staff to meet their complex care needs. Dementia care specialists working in home care service have reported high levels of job strain in comparison with home care staff in general. Aim: This pilot study aims to evaluate the effects of a dementia care education model targeting self-reported job strain and organizational climate, among dementia care specialists in home care service. Methods: A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design was applied, with 12 months' follow-up. Participants were dementia care specialists who worked in home care service (n=34 baseline; n=30 follow-up). The data were collected using the Strain in Dementia Care Scale and Creative Climate Questionnaires, administered pre-and postintervention. The intervention applied an educational model based on previous research in dementia care and a person-centered approach. Results: The educational model was implemented in the context of home care services. Of 34 participants at baseline, only 21 responded to the questionnaires, due to a drop off of 13 participants and recruitment of 9 new participants (follow-up=30). A significantly reduced perceived job strain among the participants was detected, indicating perceiving less difficulty in "Balancing competing needs" when caring for the older persons. No significant difference was found in the self-reported creative organizational climate between the two occasions. Conclusion: The educational model could be integrated into dementia home care and it seemed to reduce job strain among dementia care specialists. Future studies are needed to evaluate the effects of the intervention using a stronger study design and a larger sample.

How to Address the Health of Home Care Workers: A Systematic Review of the Last Two Decades

“…The characteristics of included studies are summarized in Tables 1–4. The majority of the studies were conducted in Europe ( n = 9; Andersen et al, 2015; Fallahpour et al, 2020; Gerstel et al, 2013; Hartvigsen et al, 2005; Horneij et al, 2001; Jellema et al, 2002; Petterson et al, 2006; Pohjonen & Ranta, 2001; Roelofs et al, 2007).…”

“…Most of the included studies have a quasi-experimental design ( n = 13). Of these, four studies conducted a control group comparison (Gerstel et al, 2013; Hartvigsen et al, 2005; Pohjonen & Ranta, 2001; Rosswurm et al, 2003), while nine studies examined the effectiveness of the intervention using a single-group pre-post design (Andersen et al, 2015; Coogle et al, 2007; Czuba et al, 2012; Fallahpour et al, 2020; Jellema et al, 2002; Leff et al, 2000; Olson et al, 2015, 2018; Petterson et al, 2006). Three studies conducted randomized controlled trials (Bagheri et al, 2021; Horneij et al, 2001; Roelofs et al, 2007); in two studies, a cluster randomization was executed (Fujita et al, 2019; Fukui et al, 2019; Olson et al, 2016).…”

“…Five studies conducted trainings/applied an educational approach. They all focused on work-related competencies and behaviors (Coogle et al, 2007; Fallahpour et al, 2020; Fujita et al, 2019; Fukui et al, 2019; Petterson et al, 2006; Rosswurm et al, 2003).…”

“…Across all studies, physical parameters were most commonly defined as primary outcomes ( n = 11), with pain measured most frequently ( n = 6; Andersen et al, 2015; Hartvigsen et al, 2005; Horneij et al, 2001; Jellema et al, 2002; Olson et al, 2015; Roelofs et al, 2007). Psychosocial and mental parameters were defined as primary outcomes in four studies (Andersen et al, 2015; Fallahpour et al, 2020; Olson et al, 2015; Petterson et al, 2006).…”

Eldercare services for people with and without a dementia diagnosis: an analysis of Swedish registry data

“…(2) We focused on all kinds of eldercare, i.e., both home care and residential care (cf. [ 30 , 34 , 36 , 50 , 51 ]. (3) We make a comparison between people with and without dementia based on national registry data (cf.…”