Occupational Precariousness of Nursing Staff in Catalonia's Public and Private Nursing Homes.

Ana Mari Fité-Serra,Montserrat Gea-Sánchez,Eva Barallat-Gimeno,Joan Blanco-Blanco,Álvaro Alconada-Romero,Carles Muntaner,Judith Roca-Llobet,José Tomás Mateos

doi:10.3390/ijerph16244921

Abstract

Nursing staff who provide care in the nursing homes of Catalonia have more precarious work conditions, including more demanding schedules and work overload, than those in other areas of care. This situation entails two major problems: Detrimental health results for nurses who face psychosocial and physical risks and a negative impact on the care provided to patients, with a decrease in the quality of care. This study aimed to describe the precarious employment situation of nursing staff in nursing homes. We carried out a descriptive study based on the employment precariousness scale (EPRES), which was administered to a sample of 239 nurses and nursing assistants working in public and private nursing homes in Catalonia. The highest level of job insecurity occurred among nursing assistants and in privately managed nursing homes. The precariousness of the working conditions of nursing staff poses a risk both to the workers themselves and to the people they tend to. For this reason, there is a need for greater knowledge on the scale of the problem and the implementation of appropriate legislative measures to alleviate it.

Highlights

The precariousness of paid work is defined as insecurity in labor relations and the increase in temporary employment [1]
We carried out a nonprobability convenience sampling of nurses and nursing assistants who worked in these nursing homes, based on the criteria of accessibility and availability [24]
This difference seems to come from the salary dimension of employment precariousness scale (EPRES), in which the nursing assistants exceeded the nurses by 0.6 points (p < 0.01)

Summary

Introduction

The precariousness of paid work is defined as insecurity in labor relations and the increase in temporary employment [1]. This precariousness is associated with physical and mental health risks [2,3]. These working conditions have spread in recent decades in most Western countries and labor sectors [4]. It is the youngest workers and women who endure the most precarious conditions [5,6]. As a result of the lack of funding due to austerity policies, understaffing and workload intensification are occurring in the health care services [8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion