“I Like the Feeling of Connecting With People”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Nursing Assistants Experiences Across the Care Continuum

Abstract

Nursing assistants (NAs) are critical professionals across the long-term care continuum. Despite the demands of NAs, these frontline personnel experience workplace challenges and turnover at a disproportionate rate compared to other professionals. Much research has explored the experiences of nursing assistants using federal survey data and national datasets. Guided by a socio-ecological model and the job-demands resource model, this study utilized a sequential mixed-methods approach to uncover a more nuanced understanding of NA workplace experience. Results from this combined qualitative ( N = 17) and quantitative ( N = 354) study found that there are several workplace aspects, such as organizational culture and supervisor relationships, that contribute to NA experiences across system levels. Further exploration of direct care tasks directly from nursing assistants is necessary to understand full intentions.