Background: Home care workers (HCWs), who include home health aides and personal care attendants, frequently care for adults with heart failure (HF). Despite substantial involvement in HF care, prior qualitative studies have found that HCWs lack training and confidence, which creates challenges for this workforce and potentially for patient care. Herein, we quantified the prevalence of HF training among HCWs and determined its association with job satisfaction.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of agency-employed HCWs caring for HF patients across New York, NY from 2018-2019. HF training was assessed with, “Have you received prior HF training?” Job satisfaction was assessed with, “How satisfied are you with your job?” The association between HF training and job satisfaction was determined with robust poisson regression.Results: 323 HCWs from 23 agencies participated; their median age was 50 years (IQR: 37,58), 94% were women, 44% were non-Hispanic Black, 23% were Hispanic, 78% completed ≥ high school education, and 72% were foreign-born. They had been caregiving for a median of 8.5 years (IQR: 4,15) and 73% had cared for 1-5 HF patients. Two-thirds received none/a little HF training and 82% felt satisfied with their job. In a fully adjusted model, HCWs with some/a lot of HF training had 14% higher job satisfaction than those with none/a little HF training (aPR 1.14; 95% CI 1.03-1.27).Conclusions: The majority of HCWs have not received HF training. HF training was associated with higher job satisfaction, suggesting that HF training programs may improve HCWs’ experience caring for this patient population. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(4):575-582; doi:10.18865/ed.30.4.575
“It's Like They Forget That the Word ‘Health’ Is in ‘Home Health Aide’”: Understanding the Perspectives of Home Care Workers Who Care for Adults With Heart Failure
