PNS75 THE QUALITY OF CARE WORKERS IN LONG-TERM CARE INSTITUTIONS IN ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA

Abstract

This paper aimed to explore the quality of care workers in long-term care (LTC) institutions in Zhejiang Province, including demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP). In addition, to find related factors to improve quality of care workers. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to June in 2016 in Zhejiang. Ten LTC institutions was randomly selected using a cluster random sampling method, including four institutions in Xihu District and six institutions in Lanxi County. Totally 84 caregivers were interviewed face-to-face with a unified questionnaire. Multiple linear regression were used to find the related factors to KAP. Structural equation modeling was conducted to explore the pathways among KAP and influencing factors. The study found that most of care workers in Zhejiang Province were middle-aged female with diploma below middle school. There are many care workers hadn’t received any pre-job training. Their salary was low although they undertook high-intensive work. The average knowledge, attitude, and practice score was 17.11 ± 3.34, 48.15 ± 3.71 and 5.58 ± 1.36, their full score was 23, 65 and 7, respectively. Education and working years had positive effect on knowledge and practice score, pre-job training had positive effect on attitude score. What's more, we found that nursing knowledge could affect nursing practice through nursing attitude. The quality of care workers in Zhejiang Province was low. Continuous and regular elderly care training should be provided for the care workers to improve their ageing-care knowledge and hence the quality of elderly care.