. 2018 Mar 22;16(1):15.

doi: 10.1186/s12960-018-0277-9.

Relationships between work outcomes, work attitudes and work environments of health support workers in Ontario long-term care and home and community care settings

Whitney Berta¹, Audrey Laporte^{2

3}, Tyrone Perreira², Liane Ginsburg⁴, Adrian Rohit Dass^{2

3}, Raisa Deber², Andrea Baumann⁵, Lisa Cranley⁶, Ivy Bourgeault⁷, Janet Lum⁸, Brenda Gamble⁹, Kathryn Pilkington¹⁰, Vinita Haroun¹¹, Paula Neves¹²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada. whit.berta@utoronto.ca.
² Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada.
³ Canadian Centre for Health Economics, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada.
⁴ School of Health Policy & Management, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
⁶ Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Suite 130, Toronto, ON, M5T 1P8, Canada.
⁷ Telfer School of Management, 55 Laurier Ave E., Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁸ Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada.
⁹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street, North Science Building, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada.
¹⁰ Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes & Services for Seniors, 7050 Weston Rd, Woodbridge, ON, L4L 8G7, Canada.
¹¹ Ontario Long Term Care Association, 425 University Avenue, Suite 500, Toronto, ON, M5G 1T6, Canada.
¹² Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.

PMID: 29566723
PMCID: PMC5863810
DOI: 10.1186/s12960-018-0277-9

Relationships between work outcomes, work attitudes and work environments of health support workers in Ontario long-term care and home and community care settings

Whitney Berta et al. Hum Resour Health. 2018.

. 2018 Mar 22;16(1):15.

doi: 10.1186/s12960-018-0277-9.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada. whit.berta@utoronto.ca.
² Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada.
³ Canadian Centre for Health Economics, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M6, Canada.
⁴ School of Health Policy & Management, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
⁶ Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Suite 130, Toronto, ON, M5T 1P8, Canada.
⁷ Telfer School of Management, 55 Laurier Ave E., Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁸ Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada.
⁹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street, North Science Building, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada.
¹⁰ Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes & Services for Seniors, 7050 Weston Rd, Woodbridge, ON, L4L 8G7, Canada.
¹¹ Ontario Long Term Care Association, 425 University Avenue, Suite 500, Toronto, ON, M5G 1T6, Canada.
¹² Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.

PMID: 29566723
PMCID: PMC5863810
DOI: 10.1186/s12960-018-0277-9

Abstract

Background: Our overarching study objective is to further our understanding of the work psychology of Health Support Workers (HSWs) in long-term care and home and community care settings in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, we seek novel insights about the relationships among aspects of these workers' work environments, their work attitudes, and work outcomes in the interests of informing the development of human resource programs to enhance elder care.

Methods: We conducted a path analysis of data collected via a survey administered to a convenience sample of Ontario HSWs engaged in the delivery of elder care over July-August 2015.

Results: HSWs' work outcomes, including intent to stay, organizational citizenship behaviors, and performance, are directly and significantly related to their work attitudes, including job satisfaction, work engagement, and affective organizational commitment. These in turn are related to how HSWs perceive their work environments including their quality of work life (QWL), their perceptions of supervisor support, and their perceptions of workplace safety.

Conclusions: HSWs' work environments are within the power of managers to modify. Our analysis suggests that QWL, perceptions of supervisor support, and perceptions of workplace safety present particularly promising means by which to influence HSWs' work attitudes and work outcomes. Furthermore, even modest changes to some aspects of the work environment stand to precipitate a cascade of positive effects on work outcomes through work attitudes.

Keywords: Elder care; Health support workers; Health workforce psychology; Home and community care; Job satisfaction; Long term care; Perceived organizational support; Work attitudes; Work environment; Work outcomes; Work psychology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The research project of which this manuscript is part has been approved by the University of Toronto’s Human Research Ethics Program Protocol Reference 30742.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Original conceptual framework

**Fig. 2**
Re-conceptualized conceptual framework

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Relationships between work outcomes, work attitudes and work environments of health support workers in Ontario long-term care and home and community care settings

Affiliations

Relationships between work outcomes, work attitudes and work environments of health support workers in Ontario long-term care and home and community care settings

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Consent for publication

Competing interests

Publisher’s Note

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Medical