Home Health & Hospice Week

The shortage of home care aides isn’t being helped by the likelihood of abuse in the home care setting, a new study indicates.

In a survey that drew nearly 1,000 responses, home care aides reported experiencing at least one of four types of verbal abuse: being yelled at or spoken to in an angry or humiliating tone; being made to feel bad about oneself; being subjected to racial, ethnic, or religious insults/taunts; being threatened with violence, according to a new study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Around half (51 percent) experienced more than one type of verbal abuse, and 5 percent experienced all four, report the University of Massachusetts study authors.

Physical abuse was much less common at 7.5 percent, “but care workers experiencing verbal abuse were 11 times more likely to be subjected to physical abuse than those who had not been verbally assaulted,” according to a release about the study.

“Violence from care recipients and family members, including both verbal and physical abuse, is a serious occupational hazard for healthcare and social assistance workers,” warns the study abstract.

Particular risk factors include patients having dementia; working in a home with too little space to perform care tasks; and unpredictable work schedules. Unclear plans for delivering care and having clients with limited mobility also may be risk factors, according to the study.

“Verbal abuse is common among HC aides. These findings suggest specific changes in work organisation and training that may help reduce verbal abuse,” the article says.

The authors urge home care agencies to train their aides in working with dementia patients; periodic home assessments for living space and assistive device requirements; and providing predictable work schedules for aides.

See the study at https://oem.bmj.com/content/76/7/448.