Valuing the health of the support worker
in the aged care sector
ESTHER GEORGE*, LEIGH HALE* and JENNIFER ANGELO†
Abstract
This study explored aged care support workers’ perceptions of how their health was
influenced by their job, highlighting similarities and differences of those working in
community-based and institution-based care. Support workers working in two institu-
tion-based and three community-based aged care organisations were invited to
participate. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with ten participants.
Open-ended questions probed participants’ perceptions of their health as it
related to their work. Data were analysed with the General Inductive Approach.
Four central themes were identified, many of which related to mental, as opposed
to physical health. ‘Love of the job’ described various sources of satisfaction for par-
ticipants. These factors commonly overrode the negative aspects. ‘Stress’ encom-
passed the negative influences on all aspects of health. ‘Support’ described the
positive influences on health, which supported participants in their job.
‘Physicality’ described the physical nature of the job and the positive and negative
impact this had on participants’ health. Support workers perform numerous tasks,
which often impact upon their health. Aspects of the job that may impact the
health of the worker are improved communication and support from management,
as well as recognition for support workers’ contribution to society. These could be
targeted to enhance support worker health. Additional training and reduced time
pressure may also represent aspects for improvement, to optimise support
workers’ physical health.
KEY WORDS – care-giver, physical health, mental health, perceptions.
Introduction
Worldwide the proportion of the population aged over years is increas-
ing and is projected to continue to increase (Bloom, Canning and Fink
; United Nations ; World Health Organization ). New
Zealand is no exception: a quarter of New Zealand’s population is expected
to be over years old from the late s (Dunstan and Thomson ).
* School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
† Adjunct Instructor, Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wisconsin, USA.
Ageing & Society , , –. © Cambridge University Press
doi:./SX
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X16000131 Published online by Cambridge University Press