BJBC Findings, Issue Briefs and Reports

• Better Jobs Better Care: New Research on the Long-Term Care Workforce July 2008
  Special issue of The Gerontologist encapsulates BJBC's research findings and includes Pennsylvania State University's evaluation of the demonstration projects. The articles cover the organizational and management interventions and the interventions that attracted and kept direct care workers on the job. Available for purchase from www.geron.org.
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• FutureAge March/April 2007
  The March/April issue of FutureAge magazine is dedicated to the Better Jobs Better Care findings. Each article illustrates the work BJBC has done to support changes in long-term care policy and provider practice that help improve frontline worker retention.
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  Issue Briefs
  
  
• Respectful Relationships: The Heart of Better Jobs Better Care
  Number 7, April 2007
  Building a foundation of respect in the long-term care workplace can increase direct care worker satisfaction and retention and help providers embrace the growing racial and cultural diversity of their frontline staff.
  (PDF) 
  

• Engaging the Public Workforce Development System: Strategies for Investing in the Direct Care Workforce
  Number 6, February 2006
  Partnerships between long-term care providers and the workforce development network can improve quality of care, increase the supply of direct care workers and promote greater workforce stability.
  (PDF)
  
  
• Family Care and Paid Care: Separate Worlds or Common Ground?
  Number 5, May 2005
  Family and paid caregiving are typically treated as separate worlds, yet they often intersect. The brief explains the demographic and economic trends that affect caregiving and suggests ways to strengthen the bond between family and paid care. 
  (PDF)
  
  
• Quality Improvement of Organizations: Recognizing Direct-Care Workers' Role in Nursing Home Quality Improvement
  Number 4, August 2004
  Quality improvement organizations (QIOs) are changing their approach in nursing homes, focusing on direct care workers and other caregiving staff in their efforts to improve care. 
  (PDF)
  
  
• Health Insurance Coverage for Direct Care Workers: Riding Out the Storm
  Number 3, March 2004
  Direct care workers face numerous challenges in finding health care coverage. There are realistic strategies for making health coverage more available and more affordable to them and their families. 
  (PDF)
  
  
• Direct-Care Workers Speaking Out On Their Own Behalf
  Number 2, January 2004
  Direct care workers play a critical role in improving the quality of long-term care services. They are enhancing their role by getting involved in workplace change initatives, worker associations and unions.
  (PDF)
  
  
• Multi-Stakeholder Coalitions: Promoting Improvements in the Long-Term Care Workforce
  Number 1, October 2003
  Partnerships among long-term care providers, consumers and workers can strenthen the long-term care workforce and create fundamental changes that improve the jobs and work environments for direct care workers.
  (PDF)
  
  
  Practice and Policy Reports
  
  
• The Cost of Frontline Turnover in Long-Term Care
  October 2004
  The high rate of turnover among frontline workers in long-term care is a serious workforce problem. This report presents a framework for measuring these costs and makes a case for why they are important to track.
  - Executive Summary (PDF)
  - Full Report (PDF)
  
  
• Linking Payment to Long-Term Care Quality: Can Direct Care Staffing Measures Build the Foundation?
  April 2005
  State and federal policymakers are looking at using incentives to reward providers who can demonstrate better quality. This report describes the challenges in desiging effective incentive systems in long-term care.
  - Executive Summary (PDF)
  - Full Report (PDF)