Rethinking Employer Communication and Support for Home Care Aides: A Case Study of Pandemic Group Support Calls

Abstract This case study explores an employer-initiated biweekly group support call for home care aides implemented by a large New York City-based home care agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we investigate how agency staff used information gathered through these calls to intervene into existing agency communication and support systems for aides. Our single-site case study analyzes detailed notes from almost 100 support calls that took place between April 2020 and March 2021, as well as interviews with agency staff from communications, human resources, nursing, and other departments that support aides. We compare and contrast new communication and support mechanisms advanced in conjunction with these calls with agency systems pre-pandemic. Our findings suggest that while calls were initially targeted toward providing emotional and operational support, staff also advocated for more systemic supports. We discuss the sustainability of these new efforts, as well as ongoing barriers and gaps.

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Stacey, C.L. The Caring Self: The Work Experiences of Home Care Aides, New York: Cornell University Press. 2011. 216pp $65.00 (hbk) ISBN: 9780801449857

Sociology of Health & Illness ◽

10.1111/1467-9566.12060 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 647-648

Author(s):

Sara MacBride-Stewart

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Home Care ◽

Work Experiences ◽

Cornell University ◽

Care Aides ◽

Home Care Aides

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Expanding the Conceptualization of Support in Low-Wage Carework: The Case of Home Care Aides and Client Death

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph19010367 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 367

Author(s):

Emma K. Tsui ◽

Marita LaMonica ◽

Maryam Hyder ◽

Paul Landsbergis ◽

Jennifer Zelnick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Home Care ◽

Work Stress ◽

Home Based ◽

The Social ◽

Feminist Theories ◽

Sources Of Support ◽

Care Aides ◽

Home Care Aides ◽

Depth Interviews

Home care aides are a rapidly growing, non-standard workforce who face numerous health risks and stressors on the job. While research shows that aides receive limited support from their agency employers, few studies have explored the wider range of support that aides use when navigating work stress and considered the implications of these arrangements. To investigate this question, we conducted 47 in-depth interviews with 29 home care aides in New York City, focused specifically on aides’ use of support after client death. Theories of work stress, the social ecological framework, and feminist theories of care informed our research. Our analysis demonstrates aides’ extensive reliance on personal sources of support and explores the challenges this can create in their lives and work, and, potentially, for their communities. We also document aides’ efforts to cultivate support stemming from their home-based work environments. Home care aides’ work stress thus emerges as both an occupational health and a community health issue. While employers should carry responsibility for preventing and mitigating work stress, moving toward health equity for marginalized careworkers requires investing in policy-level and community-level supports to bolster employer efforts, particularly as the home care industry becomes increasingly fragmented and non-standard.

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Clare L. Stacey, The Caring Self: The Work Experiences of Home Care Aides, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 2011, 216 pp., pbk $19.95, ISBN 13: 978 0 8014 7699 0.

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x11001292 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 722-724

Author(s):

SANDRA S. BUTLER

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Home Care ◽

Work Experiences ◽

Cornell University ◽

Care Aides ◽

Home Care Aides

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Attitudes of In-Home Care Aides toward Elderly Persons: Refinement of the Oberleder Attitude Scale

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/00315125890693-207 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 69 (3-2) ◽

pp. 1103-1106

Author(s):

Betty G. Dillard ◽

Betty L. Feather

Keyword(s):

Elderly Patients ◽

Home Care ◽

Attitude Scale ◽

Elderly Persons ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Care Aides ◽

Home Care Aides

The Oberleder Attitude Scale was reduced from 25 to 16 items and was factored into three major concepts, potential, limitations, and stereotypes. Responses of 345 in-home care aides indicated that the 345 aides held positive attitudes toward their elderly patients.

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