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The Gerontologist Advance Access published online on June 8, 2009
The Gerontologist, doi:10.1093/geront/gnp040
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America 2009.

Nursing Home Work Practices and Nursing Assistants’ Job Satisfaction

Christine E. Bishop, PhD1,2, Marie R. Squillace, PhD3, Jennifer Meagher, MA2, Wayne L. Anderson, PhD4 and Joshua M. Wiener, PhD5

2 The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
3 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary/Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy, Washington, DC
4 RTI International, Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
5 RTI International, Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care, Washington, DC

1 Address correspondence to Christine E. Bishop, PhD, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Room 214, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Brandeis University, Mailstop 035, 415 South Street, P.O. Box 549110, Waltham, MA 02454-9110. E-mail: bishop{at}brandeis.edu


  Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the impact of nursing home work practices, specifically compensation and working conditions, on job satisfaction of nursing assistants employed in nursing homes. Design and Methods: Data are from the 2004 National Nursing Assistant Survey, responses by the nursing assistants’ employers to the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, and county-level data from the Area Resource File. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate effects of compensation and working conditions on nursing assistants’ overall job satisfaction, controlling for personal characteristics and local labor market characteristics. Results: Wages, benefits, and job demands, measured by the ratio of nursing assistant hours per resident day, were associated with job satisfaction. Consistent with previous studies, job satisfaction was greater when nursing assistants felt respected and valued by their employers and had good relationships with supervisors. Nursing assistants were more satisfied when they had enough time to complete their work, when their work was challenging, when they were not subject to mandatory overtime, and where food was not delivered to residents on trays. Implications: This is the first investigation of nursing assistant job satisfaction using a nationally representative sample of nursing assistants matched to information about their employing nursing homes. The findings corroborate results of previous studies in showing that compensation and working conditions that provide respect, good relationships with supervisors, and better staffing levels are important to nursing assistant job satisfaction.

Keywords: Long-term care workforce, Supervision, Staffing, Respect, Wages

Received April 28, 2008; Accepted October 22, 2008

Decision Editor: William J. McAuley, PhD


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