Professional training needs of caregivers for the elderly in Shaanxi province

Abstract

Objective To explore the professional training will and needs of caregivers for the elderly in Shaanxi province and to provide reference for completing the training program for caregivers for the elderly, clarifying the content of training and making relevant policies. Methods Totally 1 390 caregivers for the elderly from 143 nursing homes in Shaanxi province were selected by convenient sampling from January to September 2017 and investigated with the self-made questionnaire for their will and needs of professional training. χ2 test was used to identify the influencing factors to the caregivers' will of professional training, and the statistically significant variables were included into the Logistic regression model to analyze the influencing factors to professional training of caregivers for the elderly in Shaanxi province. Results (1) Professional training will: 1 085 caregivers (78.1%) were willing to participate in professional training, while 305 caregivers (21.9%) were not willing to do so. Logistic regression analysis showed that educational background, marital status, needs for professional knowledge, certificate of caregivers, effects of previous training and economic income were the influencing factors to the professional training will of caregivers for the elderly in Shaanxi province (P<0.05) . (2) Professional training needs: the form of training was mainly short-term training (48.4%) , and the cost of training was mostly free of charge or borne by their institutions (68.7%) . Their desired form of training was graded training (64.3%) , and the content of training focused primarily on daily life care (83.7%) and basic care (82.2%) . Conclusions The proportion of caregivers for the elderly in Shaanxi province who are willing to receive professional training is high. Targeted graded professional training should be provided according to different situations of caregivers so as to improve the service of care for the elderly. The government or nursing homes are advised to provide part-time and short-term professional training which focuses primarily on daily life care and psychological care, complete training plans and meet social needs, without increasing economic burden on caregivers for the elderly. Key words: In-service training; Professional training; Caregivers for the elderly; Training needs