Staff's person-centredness in dementia care in relation to job characteristics and job-related well-being: a cross-sectional survey in nursing homes

Aim. To explore the role of nursing staff's person-centredness caring for people with dementia in relation to their work environment and job-related well-being. Background. Given the development towards person-centred care and labour force issues, research has recently focused on the effect of person-centredness on nursing staff's well-being. Findings from occupational stress research suggest that employees' personal characteristics, such as person-centredness, can moderate the impact particular job characteristics have on their job-related well-being. Design. Cross-sectional survey. Methods. A national survey was conducted among healthcare staff (n = 1147) in 136 living arrangements for people with dementia in the Netherlands (20082009). Hierarchical regression analyses were used. Results. Person-centredness moderates the relationship between coworker support and three outcomes of job-related well-being and between supervisor support and two of these outcomes. For highly person-centred nursing staff, coworker support was found to have a weaker impact and supervisor support to have a stronger impact on their job-related well-being. In addition, direct effects showed that person-centredness was weakly associated with more job satisfaction, more emotional exhaustion and more strongly with more personal accomplishment. Conclusion. Nursing staff's person-centredness does play a modest role in relation to job characteristics and job-related well-being. Findings indicate that person-centredness is not only beneficial to residents with dementia as found earlier, but also for nursing staff themselves; specifically, in case nursing staff members feel supported by their supervisor. Since a more person-centred workforce feels more competent, further implementation of person-centred care might have a positive impact on the attractiveness of the profession.