Search results for ‘Author:"king anna i. i."’ Sort:
Results 1 - 2 of 2
Assessing the impact of a restorative home care service in New Zealand: a cluster randomised controlled trial
- Authors:
- KING Anna I. I., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(4), July 2012, pp.365-374.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Restorative care, which focuses on helping clients do things for themselves, is one approach to improving home care services. This study investigated the impact of a restorative home care service for 186 community-dwelling older people who received assistance from a home care agency in New Zealand. A randomised controlled trial was undertaken, where older people were interviewed face-to-face at baseline, four and seven months. Ninety three participants received restorative home care and 93 people received usual home care. Findings revealed that compared with usual care, the intervention demonstrated a statistically significant benefit in health-related quality of life at 7 months for older people. There were no changes in other measurements for older people in either group over time. There was a significant difference in the number of older people in the intervention group identified for reduced hours (29%) compared with the control group (0%). The authors concluded that a restorative home care service may be of benefit to older people, and improve service efficacy.
A restorative home care intervention in New Zealand: perceptions of paid caregivers
- Authors:
- KING Anna I. I., PARSONS Matthew, ROBINSON Elizabeth
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(1), January 2012, pp.70-79.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Paid caregivers provide a vital role in home care services, but there are widespread recruitment and retention issues in this workforce due to poor working conditions and inadequate training. The aim of this study was to explore paid caregiver perceptions of a restorative home care intervention. Caregivers were recruited from a home care agency in Auckland, New Zealand and randomised to either the control or the intervention group. The intervention group undertook 2 specialised training programmes based on a restorative care philosophy designed to optimise independence in older people. Focus groups were undertaken with the caregivers, 2 at baseline and 2 after 14 months. Two themes emerged from both the control and intervention focus groups: relationship with older people; and issues with home care service delivery. A further 2 themes were pertinent to the intervention group: job satisfaction; and pre-intervention. The findings reveal the intervention had a substantial positive impact on paid caregiver job satisfaction in comparison with usual care. This appeared to be due to improved training, increased support and supervision, and more flexibility. The intervention also resulted in substantially reduced staff turnover in comparison with usual home care. However, both groups identified the need for further improvements to their working conditions. The need to regulate this vulnerable workforce is discussed.