Staff Perceptions of Job Satisfaction and Life Situation before and 6 and 12 Months after Increased Information Technology Support in Dementia Care

Abstract

We measured staff members’ satisfaction with their work before and after increased information technology (IT) support in dementia care. Comparisons were also performed of perceived life satisfaction and sense of coherence. Data were collected before, and 6 and 12 months after implementation of the first part of an IT support project. Instruments used were the Satisfaction with Work Questionnaires, the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSQ) and the Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale. The study was performed in a residential home for persons with dementia. The participants were 33 staff members. The IT technology included general and individualized passage alarms, sensor-activated night-time illumination, fall detectors and Internet communication. Results showed that staff members’ job satisfaction and perceived quality of care improved in comparison with the control group. Personal development, workload, expectations and demands, internal motivation and documentation, as well as the total scores for ‘psychosocial aspects of job satisfaction’ and ‘quality of care aspects’, increased in the experimental group. There were significant interaction effects for the factors family relation, close friend relation (LSQ), the total SOC scale and the meaningfulness subscale. The study showed that IT support in dementia care increased staff members’ satisfaction with their work in several ways.