Relationship between an amount of Key Tasks and Job Satisfaction among Caregivers and Nurses in Elderly Care Facilities

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine relationship between an amount of key tasks and job satisfaction among caregivers and nurses in elderly care facilities. Methods Questionnaires were mailed to the caring staff of elderly care facilities. After data collection (return rate 70%), information about work situations and health conditions were analyzed among 325 female workers, who were classified to 4 groups as follows; (1) caregivers under 40 years of age (2) caregivers of 40 years or over (3) nurses under 40 years of age (4) nurses of 40 years or over. Results Mean ages and length of career in caring sector were 37.2 ± 12.2 yr and 4.5 ± 3.0 yr for caregivers and 41.6 ± 9.2 yr and 16.8 ± 8.9 yr for nurses, respectively. A larger amount of care services were done on average by workers being dissatisfied with their job than by the satisfied workers in each of the 4 groups. The dissatisfied caregivers under 40 years showed significantly higher frequencies (as ratios of 1.4 - 2 to 1) in several care services such as “helping with showers or baths”, “helping with eating”, “changing diapers”, “moving caretakers from bed or chair to wheelchair or vice versa”, as compared with the satisfied caregivers under 40 years. Similarly, the 40 plus dissatisfied caregivers helped caretakers sit up in bed significantly more frequently. For nurses, on the other hand, “changing diapers” was found as the only service with a significant difference in frequency between the dissatisfied and the satisfied, but that was limited in the 40 plus age group. A frequency of “changing diapers” was associated with an increase in the risk of job dissatisfaction. Conclusions These results suggested that an appropriate amount of each key task in elderly care facilities should be set to prevent staff’s dissatisfaction with their job from growing excessively.