Please cite this article in press as: Zeytinoglu IU, et al. Task shifting policy in Ontario, Canada: Does it help personal support workers’ intention to stay? Health Policy (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.01.004 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model HEAP-3161; No. of Pages 8 Health Policy xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Health Policy journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol Task shifting policy in Ontario, Canada: Does it help personal support workers’ intention to stay? Isik U. Zeytinoglu a,∗ , Margaret Denton b , Catherine Brookman c , Jennifer Plenderleith d a Human Resources and Management Area, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada b Departments of Health, Aging & Society, and Sociology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada c Catherine Brookman Consulting, Richmond Hill, ON L4E 4L1, Canada d School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 26 April 2013 Received in revised form 16 December 2013 Accepted 3 January 2014 Keywords: Home care Intention to stay Task shifting a b s t r a c t The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of task shifting policy on personal sup- port workers’ (PSWs) intention to stay in home care. Data were collected through interviews with 46 home care staff of a large home care organization in Ontario, Canada. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and a thematic analysis was conducted using a qualitative soft- ware package. Half of the study participants mentioned that task shifting increases PSWs’ intention to stay in home care, while less than a quarter commented that task shifting increases PSWs intention to leave. Results show that the implementation of task shifting policy in Ontario, Canada may contribute to personal support workers’ intention to stay; however, inadequate compensation may negatively affect intention to stay and should be addressed. We recommend policy-makers consider appropriate compensation to assist PSWs in effectively executing shifted tasks. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction With an ageing population and early hospital discharge of patients, there is increased demand for home care ser- vices in Ontario and elsewhere in and beyond Canada [1–6]. To address the growing demand for home care services and to use health human resources efficiently, task shifting as a policy has been recommended in Ontario [2,7,8] and glob- ally [9]. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of task shifting policy on personal support workers’ (PSWs) intention to stay in home care. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 905 525 9140x23957; fax: +1 905 521 8895. E-mail addresses: zeytino@mcmaster.ca (I.U. Zeytinoglu), mdenton@mcmaster.ca (M. Denton), catherinebrookman@sympatico.ca (C. Brookman), jplend@mcmaster.ca (J. Plenderleith). Task shifting policy refers to delegating health care tasks performed by regulated health workers to unregulated, less specialized, lower-cost health workers [9,10]. The imple- mentation of task shifting policy in the home care sector in Ontario involves assigning or delegating tasks by a thera- pist or a nurse to a personal support worker (PSW). In task shifting, the delegation of acts is governed by the Regulated Health Profession Act, 1991 of Ontario [11]. The legislation permits any member of a regulated health profession to delegate controlled acts. However, the legislation requires the delegation of a controlled act to be in accordance with the legislation that governs the staff’s profession [11]. As regulated professionals, nurses’ and therapists’ activities are ‘controlled acts’ under the Regulated Health Profes- sions Act, 1991 they can assign or delegate tasks to PWSs. Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), which are local organizations that award service contracts for home care, have a client services policy that states that the CCAC and the professional contracted service provider must develop 0168-8510/$ – see front matter © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.01.004