Abstract
Abstract The humankind is ageing rapidly, and as a result, there is an increasing need for old people’s homes. The nursing homes face different problems in financing and recruiting the labour force and management. Lack of resources causes the situation, when managers have to find possibilities to accomplish services and to provide quality care with the limited funds. This situation has an additional impact on the nursing professionals, who have to deal with many psychosocial risk factors in their work. The aim of the paper is to explore the work-related psychosocial risk factors and their relationships with mental health problems (MHPs) amongst care workers. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken amongst the care workers in nine Estonian nursing homes. Psychosocial work factors and MHPs (stress, somatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, burnout, cognitive symptoms, and sleep disorders) were analysed using the second version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II). Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s r correlation were used to analyse the data. The analysis was based on 340 care worker surveys. The highest mean scores for the studied work-related psychosocial factors were recorded for the quantitative demands, influence, rewards, role conflicts, trust, insecurity and work-family balance. Low mean scores were recorded for the meaning of work, role clarity, social relationships at work. The lowest score was followed by burnout and the highest - by cognitive symptoms.
Highlights
The study of nursing homes in ten nations (Ribbe et al, 1997) was one of the first papers dedicated to analysis of nursing homes for ageing people
Based on the previous research in the area of psychosocial risk factors of care workers in the nursing homes addressed above, the aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between high work demands, the relationships among coworkers, negative work interfaces, work organization and management, and their influence on the worker’s mental health
The mean scores for six mental health problems (MHPs)’s ranged from 14.16 to 16.74; the lowest score was for burnout and the highest – for cognitive symptoms
Summary
The study of nursing homes in ten nations (Ribbe et al, 1997) was one of the first papers dedicated to analysis of nursing homes for ageing people. Psychosocial risk factors and work-related stress are still an issue that needs to be addressed and made more understandable (Leka & Jain, 2010). Health care psychosocial risk factors have special aspects, they are connected with patient safety and quality of care. Previous studies show that those workers, who suffer from cognitive, depressive or emotional symptoms, could not provide safe and quality services to the patients (Hamdan, 2013; German & Gumming, 2010; Van Beek et al, 2012). Quantitative and emotional demands, work pace, role conflicts and relationships at work are negatively related with the workers’ mental health. Work-family and role conflicts and job insecurity have significant impact on workers’ stress (Freimann & Merisalu, 2015)
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