Article
Quality home care for persons living with dementia: Personal support workers' perspectives in Ontario, Canada
Health and Social Care in the Community
(2021)
Abstract
There is a global need to understand how the quality of home care for persons living
with dementia is perceived by their most frequent formal caregivers, personal support
workers (PSW), especially given the expected rise in the prevalence of dementia. The
aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of PSW regarding what constitutes
quality home care for persons with dementia. Qualitative content analysis was un-
dertaken to interpret semi-structured interviews with PSW (N=15). Study findings
indicate that quality home care is perceived to be (1) person-centered; (2) provided
by PSW with dementia-specific education and training; (3) facilitated by specific PSW
experiences, abilities and characteristics; (4) enhanced by accessible information, ser-
vices and education for persons with dementia and their caregivers; (5) provided by
an inclusive dementia care team; and (6) facilitated by organisational supports and
respect. However, findings also indicated differences in what PSW perceive as quality
home care versus what they are experiencing when providing care for persons with
dementia. Participants advocated for increased supports to them through ongoing
dementia-specific education and training, increased teamwork among care providers,
increased wages, sufficient and qualified staffing, and increased exchange of client
information. The findings highlight the importance of exploring front-line workers’
perspectives and how they can help revise current healthcare policies and inform
future policy development.
Keywords
- Canada,
- dementia,
- dementia care,
- healthcare assistants,
- home care,
- Ontario,
- person-centered care,
- personal support workers,
- quality of care,
- workforce issues
Disciplines
Publication Date
December 24, 2021
DOI
10.1111/hsc.13692
Citation Information
Rachel Breen, Marie Y Savundranayagam, Joseph B Orange and Anita Kothari. "Quality home care for persons living with dementia: Personal support workers' perspectives in Ontario, Canada" Health and Social Care in the Community (2021) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/marie_savundranayagam/31/