The influence of care provider access to structural empowerment on individualized care in long-term-care facilities.
OBJECTIVE
Implementing management initiatives that enable formal caregivers to provide quality, individualized care to older adults in long-term-care (LTC) facilities is increasingly important given that the number of LTC residents is projected to triple by 2031. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between care provider access to structural empowerment and the provision of individualized care in LTC.


METHODS
We computed structural equation models separately for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses (n = 242) and care aides (n = 326) to examine the relationship between access to empowerment structures (i.e., informal power, formal power, information, support, resources, opportunity) and the provision of individualized care. We subsequently undertook invariance analyses to determine if the association between empowerment structures and reported provision of individualized care differed between caregiver groups.


RESULTS
Access to structural empowerment had a statistically significant, positive association with provision of individualized care for both groups. For registered nurses/licensed practical nurses and care aides, empowerment explained 50% and 45% of observed variance in individualized care, respectively. These notable percentages did not differ significantly between caregiver groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Of the empowerment structures, support, especially in the form of access to educational opportunities and recognition for a job well done, seems to be particularly significant to care providers. Findings from this study suggest that provision of individualized care in LTC may be enhanced when formal caregivers have appreciable access to empowerment structures.
Caspar
Sienna
S
Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University-Vancouver Campus, #2800-515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver (BC) V6B 5K3 Canada.
O'Rourke
Norm
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001955:British Columbia; D004650:Employee Performance Appraisal; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009728:Nursing Assistants; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009740:Nursing Staff; D009743:Nursing, Practical; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*