Finnish telehomecare workers' satisfaction with the inclusion of telehomecare in older adults' home care and factors associated with it

Abstract

<p>Background: Telehomecare in older adults' home care in Finland is mainly video-mediated check-up and reminder calls with home care clients. Home care workers have reported mixed attitudes and feelings towards utilisation of technologies and remote services in their work. Objectives: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate Finnish telehomecare workers' satisfaction with the inclusion of telehomecare in older adults' home care. Another aim was to examine what factors are associated with this satisfaction. <br></p><p>Methods: The data were collected with an electronic quantitative email survey. Five Finnish older adults' home care organisations participated as the target organisations of the study. Two of the organisations were located in large cities, one in a medium-sized provincial centre and two in rural municipalities. Three organisations provided telehomecare services with centralised service models and two with decentralised service models. In total, the organisations had 103 telehomecare workers to whom the survey was directed. <br></p><p>Results: The telehomecare workers were mostly satisfied with (55.8%) or felt neutral about (20.9%) the inclusion of telehomecare in older adults' home care. Satisfaction was strongly related to the workers' experience of telehomecare making their work easier, improving interaction and enhancing relationships of trust with clients as well as decreasing workload. Application of telehomecare to overcome the workers' physical restrictions, and also their perceptions of being able to influence whether to start working in telehomecare, were strongly related to their satisfaction with the inclusion of telehomecare in home care. <br></p><p>Conclusions: The results confirm that telehomecare job positions function well as relocated job positions in home care when workers have musculoskeletal problems or injuries. However, it is important that workers' willingness to work in telehomecare is also respected. From the telehomecare workers' perspective, good interaction and trustful relationships with clients are important factors that produce good care and increase satisfaction with telehomecare. Implications for practice: Telehomecare may have a positive impact on the home care workers' job satisfaction. The homecare workers need training in the use of new technologies. In addition, they need to be able to decide themselves whether they start working in telehomecare or not.</p>