The Moderation of Perceived Comfort and Relations with Patients in the Relationship between Secure Workplace Attachment and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in Elderly Facilities Staff.

Stefania Cuccu,Marcello Nonnis,Fabrizio Scrima,Ferdinando Fornara,Alessandro Lorenzo Mura

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020963

Abstract

This study focuses on caregivers who work in residential facilities (RFs) for the elderly, and specifically on their organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in relation to their interaction respectively with the overall context (workplace attachment dimension), the spatial-physical environment (perceived environmental comfort), and the social environment (relationship with patients). A sample of health care workers (medical or health care specialists, nurses, and office employees, n = 129) compiled a self-report paper-pencil questionnaire, which included scales measuring the study variables. The research hypotheses included secure workplace attachment style as independent variable, OCBs as the dependent variable, and perceived comfort and relations with patients as moderators. Results showed that both secure workplace attachment and perceived comfort promote OCBs, but the latter counts especially as a compensation of an insecure workplace attachment. As expected, difficult relationships with patients hinder the relationship between secure workplace attachment style and OCBs. In sum, our study highlights the importance of the joint consideration of the psychological, social, and environmental dimensions for fostering positive behaviors in caregivers employed in elderly care settings.

Highlights

Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe topic of Active and Healthy Aging (HAA) from a psychological perspective [1,2,3,4]is critical for the Italian population, which ranks first in Europe in terms of number of elderly people [5]
Our study focuses on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB, [31,32]) of Residential Facilities (RFs) caregivers, in relation to features covering different socio-psychological interfaces: (a) people-overall context interface-where the overall context includes both the spatial-physical and the social environment-represented by the workplace attachment style; (b) people-physical environment interface, represented by the perceived environmental comfort; (c) and people-people interface, represented by the relationship between staff and patients
The results of the factor analysis on the multidimensional scales suggested the use of a single-factor measure for the scales of perceived comfort, secure workplace attachment style, and problematic relationships with patients; and a 3-factorial structure for the OCB

Summary

Introduction

Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe topic of Active and Healthy Aging (HAA) from a psychological perspective [1,2,3,4]is critical for the Italian population, which ranks first in Europe in terms of number of elderly people [5]. These facilities may be public or private, are decentralized with respect to the National Health System (NHS) and play a complementary role in continuity with hospital facilities. Their mission and objectives are related to the improvement of both health and socio-psychological conditions. In this regard, RFs are framed in a perspective of care and rehabilitation (i.e., loss reduction), but rather of health and well-being (i.e., gain achievement) in a general sense.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion