Well-being of professional older adults' caregivers in Alberta's assisted living and long-term care facilities: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: For the care need of older adults, long-term care (LTC) and assisted living (AL) facilities are expanding in Alberta, but little is known about the caregivers' well-being. The purpose of the study was to investigate the physical health conditions, mental and emotional health (MEH), health behaviour, stress levels, quality of life (QOL), and turnover and absenteeism (TAA) among professional caregivers in Alberta's LTC and AL facilities. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey involved 933 conveniently selected caregivers working in Alberta's LTC and AL facilities. Standardised questions were selected from the Canadian Community Health Survey, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Short Form-36 QOL survey revalidated and administered to the participants. The new questionnaire was used to assess the caregivers' general health condition (GHC), physical health, health behaviour, stress level, QOL, and TAA. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha, Pearson's correlation, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Of 1385 surveys sent to 39 facilities, 933 valid responses were received (response rate = 67.4%). The majority of the caregivers were females (90.8%) who were ≥ 35 years (73.6%), worked between 20 to 40 h weekly (67.3%), and were satisfied with their GHC (68.1%). The Registered Nurses had better GHC (mean difference [MD] = 0.18, p = 0.004) and higher TAA than the Health Care Aides (MD = 0.24, p = 0.005). There were correlations between caregivers' TAA and each of MEH (r = 0.398), QOL (r = 0.308), and stress (r = 0.251); p < 0.001. The most significant predictors of TAA were the propensity to quit a workplace or the profession, illness, job stress, and work-related injury, F (5, 551) = 76.62, p < 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.998. CONCLUSION: Reducing the caregivers' job stressors such as work overload, inflexible schedule, and poor remuneration, and improving their quality of life, health behaviour, and mental, emotional, and physical health conditions may increase their job satisfaction and reduce turnover and absenteeism.

Perceived strategies for reducing staff-turnover and improving well-being and retention among professional caregivers in Alberta's continuing-care facilities: A qualitative study.

This qualitative study explored potential factors that lead to turnover and absenteeism and how to improve well-being and retention among professional older-adult-caregivers in Alberta's assisted living (AL) and long-term care (LTC) facilities. Four hundred and forty-seven participants aged 45-54 years were interviewed through a five-item, content-validated open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was self-administered in the English language and the soft copy of their responses was transferred into NVIVO version 12 software for coding. A thematic narrative analysis grounded in the "happy productive worker" theory was completed. The main themes were caregivers' perception of the factors affecting their well-being, absenteeism, and turnover, and caregivers' suggestions on ways to improve their well-being and retention. Participants reported that their professional well-being was suboptimal. They suggested that their employers should provide them with the needed social, psychological, and professional support, improve wages and hire more staff to ameliorate absenteeism and turnover rates.

Perspectives of Nigerian Athletes About Physiotherapy Services in Sports Injury Management: Implications for Rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Athletes' perceptions toward physiotherapy services have an impact on their general attitude toward these services and their willingness to work together with physiotherapists for rehabilitation. The study investigated athletes' perspectives of physiotherapy services in sports injury management. METHODS: A mixed-study design of a cross-sectional survey that involved 178 conveniently sampled athletes and an explanatory qualitative study (8 purposively-selected athletes) was used. The authors assessed the participants' knowledge and perception of physiotherapy services using the modified versions of the Athletes' Level of Knowledge Questionnaire, Matsuno Athletes Perception Scale, and focus group discussion. The data were analyzed using chi-square, Spearman correlation at P ≤ .05, and deductive reasoning thematic analysis. RESULTS: The age of the participants for the cross-sectional survey (131 men and 47 women) was 22.50 (7.51) years. Our results showed that the majority (91.6%) of them had adequate knowledge and (78.7%) positive perception about the role physiotherapists play in sports injury management. The participants' knowledge of physiotherapy services had a significantly positive correlation with age (ρ = .12; P = .01), sporting years (ρ = .17; P = .02), and duration in sports council (ρ = .19; P = .01), while their perception showed a negative correlation with age (ρ = -.15; P = .05), sporting years (ρ = -.16; P = .03), and duration in sports council (ρ = -.08; P = .02). However, no significant correlation existed between the participants' knowledge; perception and level of education; level of competition; type of sport; and type, nature, and severity of sport injury. Seven themes were generated from the focus group discussion. CONCLUSION: The participants reported adequate knowledge and a positive perception of physiotherapy services. The correlates of participants' knowledge and perception of physiotherapy services are age, sporting years, and duration in the sports council. From the qualitative component of the study, the authors identified the need to provide more physiotherapy services to athletes and more facilities for physiotherapy services.

Factors influencing the use of outcome measures in knee osteoarthritis: A mixed method study of physiotherapists in Nigeria.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee constitutes a significant proportion of musculoskeletal disorders managed in physiotherapy clinics worldwide. Best practice guidelines in the management of OA ensure the use of outcome measures. Aim: This study explored the factors influencing the use of outcome measures in management of patients with knee OA among physiotherapists in southwestern Nigeria. Methods: Mixed method design was used that involved a cross-sectional survey of 77 purposively selected physiotherapists and a focus group discussion with another 6 physiotherapists. Results: Participants (48 males, 29 females) were aged 35.3 ± 7.3 years. Fifty-two (67.5%) participants reported the use of outcome measures in the treatment of the patients with knee OA. The perceived barriers reported were lack of time/heavy workload (55.9%); lack of standardization of outcome measures (45%); lack of motivation (36.4%); and nonavailability of outcome measures in the clinic (36.4%). Reported perceived facilitators include interest/need to track patient's progress and ethical practice (87.1%); familiarity with outcome measures (87.0%); and understanding of the benefits of using outcome measures (87.0%). Conclusion: There is a need to establish good organizational structure focusing on the use of outcome measures in practice and development of a concessional toolkit of short and easily applicable instruments with user description.

Influence of nutritional status on some toxic and essential elements in the blood of women exposed to vehicular pollution in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Blood levels of the elements Cu, Zn, Se, As, Cd, Hg, and Pb have been determined in 62 Nigerian women who were occupationally exposed to vehicular pollution. Mercury was determined using a direct mercury analyzer, while all the other elements were determined by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer system. The mean values for all the toxic elements were all within the recommended desirable/tolerable limits, except for Se (0.44 µg/mL, compared with <0.2 µg/mL recommended by the WHO). More than 98% of the subjects had blood selenium levels higher than this recommended limit. For As, Hg, and Pb, the corresponding figures of subjects with blood levels above the recommended limits were 4, 8, and 19.3%, respectively. When the subjects were grouped according to their body mass indexes as normal, underweight, overweight, and obese, analysis of variance shows that mean blood levels of Cu, As, and, to some extent Hg were significantly different in the four nutritional status groups. Blood Hg level correlates significantly with blood As in all the groups, except in obese subjects. Also, a significant correlation between age and blood Hg was observed only in normal subjects and between age and blood Pb only in obese subjects. These results suggest that nutritional status could influence both elemental levels and the interactions between trace elements in the blood of female subjects. Nutrition is therefore a factor to consider in efforts to modify human susceptibility to toxic elements.