Is this the same as Australia?
The study, published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, drew on 954 responses (referring to a total 3,189 separate home visits) on home care staff working conditions.
The results were concerning.
Around one in four (206; 22%) staff reported at least one incident of verbal abuse by clients or their relatives during the preceding 12 months. Around half (51%) experienced more than one type of verbal abuse, and one in 20 (5%) experienced more forms of abuse.
While physical abuse was much less common (7.5%), staff experiencing verbal abuse were 11 times more likely to be subjected to physical abuse than those who were not.
Two factors significantly increased the risk of verbal abuse – cramped client living conditions - such a ‘human’ reason - (52% heightened risk) and dementia (38% heightened risk).
Australia has its own ‘human reason’ for staff abuse – ‘no time to read stuff’.
New Australian research from April of this year shows that RAC staff are struggling to manage residents with dementia despite increased research available on the subject – because they simply lack the time and resources.
Co-author of the study, Jo-Anne Rayner, said “translation of research” is the cause of staff struggling with dementia, rather than a lack of information.
“I don’t think nurses and personal care workers in aged care have the time to actually read this information and see what evidence is out there”, she said. “And that’s down to a lack of staff and a lack of funding, so all three issues highlighted in the survey are inter-related.”
