Study on Caregivers' Willingness to Work and Turnover

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Keiko Kawamura, RN, MD
Faculty of Heaith Science, Hyogo University, Kakogawa Hyogo, Japan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to know the factor of caregivers of working motivations and they leave one’s job.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to acquire suggestion to improve the general work environment in care facilities.

Purpose: This study purpose to examine what motivates of caregivers to work and what prompts them to leave to propose measures to improve the general work environment in care facilities.

Methods: A questionnaire survey on the level of job satisfaction and the reasons for leaving work was administered to 279 caregivers working in a total of nine different nursing homes in Osaka. T-tests and correlation analyses were conducted between job satisfaction levels and the reason for leaving work and also between those who hoping to leave and those willing to stay in the job.

Results: The satisfaction of their jobs was 66.1% in the satisfied group and 33.3% in the dissatisfied group. These findings indicate that more people in the dissatisfied group than in the satisfied group felt that they were assigned too much responsibility because they had to attend too many residents and their workplaces were understaffed.  Asked to elaborate what they felt they had yet to achieve, many respondents cited  specialized skills, desire to study and smooth job relations. As for reasons of these underachievement, many mentioned their insufficient competence, understaffed work environment and work overload. In order to remain in the profession, both groups said that their salary should be increased and the support system should be improved.Asked what they wanted their employers to do to improve their job quality, many of them referred to the reduction of their workload, education systems and the appointment of mentors. 

Conclusion:The workplace environment and working conditions at care facilities need to be improved to reduce the number of caregivers leaving the profession. It is crucial to address the issues of the compensation system and benefit packages of care workers, as well as their on-the-job training programs, including the education of potential mentors, as soon as possible.