Korean J Adult Nurs.  2019 Oct;31(5):507-521. 10.7475/kjan.2019.31.5.507.

Care Experiences of Personal Assistant for the Disabled: A Mixed Method Study

• Kim MG
• You SJ
• Jeon GS
• Kim YM

• KMID: 2461066
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7475/kjan.2019.31.5.507

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study explored the care experience of persons assisting the disabled people with their activities.
METHODS
Concurrent triangulation mixed methods design was used. The quantitative data on care experience were collected from 370 personal assistants for the disabled persons from May 10 to June 30, 2017, while qualitative data were collected through focus group interviews with 11 personal assistants in August 2017.
RESULTS
The participants experienced unfair treatment including requests for doing work for the client's family or unrelated work (35.2%), violence or assault (23.6%), sexual harassment or interest (7.1%), and infection risk (7.1%). Many of them suffered from health problems such as work-related muscular pain, headache, or fatigue. There was low satisfaction with the psychosocial work environment and 16.2% participants experienced depression. The participants' care experience was classified into four categories of "feeling like giving up because of emotional difficulty", "work overload and tough working condition", "expectation to improve work confidence through practical skill training", and "hope for systematic support".
CONCLUSION
The results suggest that need-based emotional competence building programs are required to prevent their physical and emotional exhaustion among the personal assistants along with strengthening their job capacity. Furthermore, the decision makers need to pay attention to their work environment to ensure their emotional competence.

MeSH Terms

Allied Health Personnel
Depression
Disabled Persons
Fatigue
Focus Groups
Headache
Humans
Mental Competency
Methods*
Sexual Harassment
Violence

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