UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers found training helps home health aides avoid on-the-job injuries.
Home health aides go to patients' homes to assist with activities such as bathing, dressing and eating. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University warn cutting back on training increases home health aides' injury risk and turnover, and may raise costs over the long run.
They found injury rates dropped significantly when employees had training. Non-injured employees had much higher job satisfaction rates and lower turnover intentions than injured employees, too.
"In our research, we saw a cascading effect," researcher Deirdre McCaughey said in a statement. "Employees who had no training or did not believe their training prepared them well had more injuries. Those employees were also much less likely than non-injured employees to recommend their organization as a place at which to work or seek services."
McCaughey and colleagues used data from the nationally representative 2007 National Home Health Aide Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The researchers reported their findings at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Montreal.
