Individual caregiving attitudes of nurse aides and mental health outcomes: An organizational demography perspective

The first purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how individual caregiving attitudes vary in relationship to the demographic composition of the work group. The second purpose is to investigate whether these caregiving attitudes affect residents in nursing homes. The orientation towards rehabilitative resident care and maintenance resident care by sub-groups of nurse aides is the caregiving attitude investigated. The mental health stability of residents is the outcome measured.;The prediction that minority group nurse aides with high levels of racial similarity to the rest of the work group will have stronger maintenance care orientations than will Minority group nurse aides with low levels of racial similarity to the rest of the work group is supported. However, the prediction that Caucasian nurse aides with high levels of racial similarity will have stronger rehabilitation care orientations than will Caucasian nurse aides with low levels of similarity is not supported.;The prediction that long-tenured nurse aides with high levels of tenure similarity will have stronger rehabilitation orientations than will long-tenured nurse aides with low levels of similarity is supported.;The prediction that adverse mental health symptoms in residents are less likely to increase over time in nursing units where the rehabilitative care orientation is strong is not supported. The prediction that adverse mental health symptoms in residents are more likely to increase over time in nursing units where the maintenance care orientation is strong is also not supported. Although, it was found that with a more appropriate, but smaller sub-sample (n = 43) of nurse aides, that the rehabilitation care orientation of nurse aides is correlated with a decrease in the mental health outcomes of residents.;The within unit variation of the nurse aides care orientation towards residents could also affect the mental health stability of residents. It was found that an increase in the unit level variance of the care orientation of nurse aides is associated with a increase in the memory problems of residents over the six month time period. However, an increase in the unit level variance in care orientation of nurse aides is associated with a decrease in the disorientation problems of residents over the six month time period.