Hypothesis Testing of CNA Perceptions of Organizational Culture in Long Term Care

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2019-02-06

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Nancy Kusmaul & Shalini Sahoo, Hypothesis Testing of CNA Perceptions of Organizational Culture in Long Term Care, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2019.1575134

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This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Gerontological Social Work on 06 February 2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01634372.2019.1575134?journalCode=wger20
Access to this item will begin on February 6, 2020

Abstract

This commentary for the special issue on research that went wrong describes a study that explored factors that contribute to variability within Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) on organizational safety culture. We know from previous research that CNAs provide most direct care in nursing homes and that direct care workers often experience agency culture differently from agency management (Wolf et al., 2014). We were looking for factors that nursing homes could alter to improve the culture for CNAs, and thus, residents. We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected via a multi-component paper survey of CNAs employed in long term care. We used results from the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture and primary shift, type of unit, and years as a CNA to identify modifiable characteristics that would explain variability in the perceptions of patient safety culture. The final sample included n = 106 from three nursing homes. Dimension scores were compared using bivariate tests appropriate to the scale and ordinal logistic regression. Despite support in the literature for the hypothesis, we found few significant differences on the total scale within groups. Differences in perceptions have implications for quality of care and the experiences of residents within nursing homes.