Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to ensure that strategic and operational approaches to retain high quality, resilient frontline care home workers are informed by context specific, high quality evidence.</p><p>A targeted scoping review asked the question: what is th...

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Main Authors: Lucy Johnston, Cari Malcolm, Lekaashree Rambabu, Jo Hockely, Susan Shenkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LSE Press 2021-08-01
Series:Journal of Long-Term Care
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.ilpnetwork.org/articles/66
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author Lucy Johnston
Cari Malcolm
Lekaashree Rambabu
Jo Hockely
Susan Shenkin
author_facet Lucy Johnston
Cari Malcolm
Lekaashree Rambabu
Jo Hockely
Susan Shenkin
author_sort Lucy Johnston
collection DOAJ
description <p>The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to ensure that strategic and operational approaches to retain high quality, resilient frontline care home workers are informed by context specific, high quality evidence.</p><p>A targeted scoping review asked the question: what is the current evidence base for practice based approaches that support the work related wellbeing of frontline care workers in care homes? The aim was to map the extent and nature of the care home specific evidence base and identify key interventions, theories and practice components.</p><p>Thirty studies were included. Thematic synthesis identified the following four key themes: Culture of Care; Content of Work; Connectedness with Colleagues and Characteristics and Competencies of Care Home Leaders. Evidence for best practice in supporting care home work related wellbeing is extremely limited, of variable quality and lacks generalisability.</p><p>Overall, the evidence base was found to be theoretically, empirically and practically fragmented and as a result, there is at present, no consensus about which areas of work related wellbeing, if addressed, would have most impact. Compounding this lack of coherence, is the limited specificity of the studies. The implicit nature of the current evidence base is also a result of the limited number of care home specific studies, their variable focus and quality, and the marked heterogeneity in the outcome measures and related indicators used by different studies.</p><p>This scoping review has distilled important areas that warrant further exploration and research from within a very limited and diffuse evidence base, for example, the potential of Person Centred Care (PCC) as a protective mechanism for both resilience and retention and the more nebulous concepts of support and job satisfaction.</p><p>The insight provided by the scoping review will inform future strategic and operational approaches to retain high quality, resilient frontline care home workers. However, the evidence base must move from its current state of implicitness to one of detailed explication. Future research should focus on high quality, adequately powered and co-designed intervention studies to determine which practice-based approaches are of most importance, how they ‘work’ or ‘don’t work’ alone or in combination to support the work related wellbeing of frontline care workers in care homes.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-bafa1de4a6814892a89e1b23b00466f92023-01-04T15:00:30ZengLSE PressJournal of Long-Term Care2516-91222021-08-010202110.31389/jltc.6662Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping ReviewLucy Johnston0Cari Malcolm1Lekaashree Rambabu2Jo Hockely3Susan Shenkin4School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier UniversitySchool of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier UniversityNHS Tayside/Edinburgh Medical School, University of EdinburghUsher Institute, University of EdinburghUsher Institute, University of Edinburgh<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to ensure that strategic and operational approaches to retain high quality, resilient frontline care home workers are informed by context specific, high quality evidence.</p><p>A targeted scoping review asked the question: what is the current evidence base for practice based approaches that support the work related wellbeing of frontline care workers in care homes? The aim was to map the extent and nature of the care home specific evidence base and identify key interventions, theories and practice components.</p><p>Thirty studies were included. Thematic synthesis identified the following four key themes: Culture of Care; Content of Work; Connectedness with Colleagues and Characteristics and Competencies of Care Home Leaders. Evidence for best practice in supporting care home work related wellbeing is extremely limited, of variable quality and lacks generalisability.</p><p>Overall, the evidence base was found to be theoretically, empirically and practically fragmented and as a result, there is at present, no consensus about which areas of work related wellbeing, if addressed, would have most impact. Compounding this lack of coherence, is the limited specificity of the studies. The implicit nature of the current evidence base is also a result of the limited number of care home specific studies, their variable focus and quality, and the marked heterogeneity in the outcome measures and related indicators used by different studies.</p><p>This scoping review has distilled important areas that warrant further exploration and research from within a very limited and diffuse evidence base, for example, the potential of Person Centred Care (PCC) as a protective mechanism for both resilience and retention and the more nebulous concepts of support and job satisfaction.</p><p>The insight provided by the scoping review will inform future strategic and operational approaches to retain high quality, resilient frontline care home workers. However, the evidence base must move from its current state of implicitness to one of detailed explication. Future research should focus on high quality, adequately powered and co-designed intervention studies to determine which practice-based approaches are of most importance, how they ‘work’ or ‘don’t work’ alone or in combination to support the work related wellbeing of frontline care workers in care homes.</p>https://journal.ilpnetwork.org/articles/66care homecarersfrontline care workersretentionresilienceburnout
spellingShingle Lucy Johnston
Cari Malcolm
Lekaashree Rambabu
Jo Hockely
Susan Shenkin
Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
Journal of Long-Term Care
care home
carers
frontline care workers
retention
resilience
burnout
title Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
title_full Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
title_fullStr Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
title_full_unstemmed Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
title_short Practice Based Approaches to Supporting the Work Related Wellbeing of Frontline Care Workers in Care Homes: A Scoping Review
title_sort practice based approaches to supporting the work related wellbeing of frontline care workers in care homes a scoping review
topic care home
carers
frontline care workers
retention
resilience
burnout
url https://journal.ilpnetwork.org/articles/66
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