Abstract
BackgroundAmong staff working in elderly care, a considerable proportion lack formal competence for their work. Lack of formal competence, in turn, has been linked to higher staff ratings of stress symptoms, sleep disturbances and workload. Objectives: 1) To describe the strengths and weaknesses of an e-assessment and subsequent e-training program used among elderly care staff who lack formal competence and 2) to study the effects of an e-training program on staff members’ working life (quality of care and psychological and structural empowerment) and well-being (job satisfaction and psychosomatic health). The hypothesis was that staff who had completed the e-assessment and the e-training program would rate greater improvements in working life and well-being than would staff who had only participated in the e-assessments.MethodsAn intervention study with a mixed-methods approach using quantitative (2010–2011) and qualitative data (2011) was conducted in Swedish elderly care. Participants included a total of 41 staff members. To describe the strengths and weaknesses of the e-assessment and the e-training program, qualitative data were gathered using semi-structured interviews together with a study-specific questionnaire. To study the effects of the intervention, quantitative data were collected using questionnaires on: job satisfaction, psychosomatic health, psychological empowerment, structural empowerment and quality of care in an intervention and a comparison group.ResultsStaff who completed the e-assessments and the e-training program primarily experienced strengths associated with this approach. The results were also in line with our hypotheses: Staff who completed the e-assessment and the e-training program rated improvements in their working life and well-being.ConclusionUse of the e-assessments and e-training program employed in the present study could be one way to support elderly care staff who lack formal education by increasing their competence; increased competence, in turn, could improve their self-confidence, working life, and well-being.
Highlights
Today, there is a need for more qualified staff in elderly care [1,2,3]
E-learning refers to e-assessment of knowledge, skills and abilities and an e-training program supported by information and communication technology (ICT)
The e-assessments in the present study are supported by ICT and were developed through a user-centered approach, where both trained staff and qualified teachers were involved throughout the process [8,9,10]
Summary
There is a need for more qualified staff in elderly care [1,2,3]. In Europe [2] and in countries such as Japan and the USA (US) [1], there is great concern about the growing proportion of older people [1,2,3]. Objectives: 1) To describe the strengths and weaknesses of an e-assessment and subsequent e-training program used among elderly care staff who lack formal competence and 2) to study the effects of an e-training program on staff members’ working life (quality of care and psychological and structural empowerment) and well-being (job satisfaction and psychosomatic health). Assessing non-formal and informal learning and providing competence development among staff working in elderly care may be seen as a way of improving lifelong learning. E-learning is often integrated into education and training among nursing students and educated health-care professionals [18,19], but studies employing e-learning among staff with no formal education are limited in number. Using e-learning among elderly care staff with no formal education allows valuable learning to occur outside formal education and training institutions (at work) [22]; it highlights tacit knowledge and enables flexibility [18]
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