The purpose of this study is to identify predictors of psychological empowerment among nurse aides in nursing homes. Five structural factors (information exchange, decentralization of resources, co-worker support, supervisor support, and availability of training) and four control factors (age, sex, level of education, and race) are analyzed using multivariate linear regression to examine their effects on psychological empowerment. Two of the five structural factors, decentralization of resources and supervisor support, are shown to positively influence psychological empowerment. Nursing home managers can consider developing and implementing procedures that decentralize resources and demonstrate supervisor support in order to increase psychological empowerment. Based on the findings of this study theory and practice might benefit from additional study of decentralization of resources and supervisor support.

The problem of the study was to determine the relationship between teaching methods and attainment of knowledge and skill performance of nurse aides in rural area nursing homes. The purpose of this study was to determine the improvement in skills performance and knowledge gain in the population cited above. The skill to be learned was operation of an electronic thermometer. The analysis of variance used on the pretest for written performance showed a significant difference at the .01 level; however, the analysis of covariance done on the posttest results showed no significant difference, indicating that the initial difference was of no consequence to the results obtained on the posttests. The paired comparison t test of the group means obtained from written tests showed that the programmed instruction group was superior to either the control or teacher-taught groups at the .001 level. Overall the programmed instruction tool was more effective in teaching skill and learning of cognitive knowledge. This report concluded that the evidence seems to support the use of programmed instruction as a means of economically and effectively teaching nurse aides who work in a rural area nursing home.

The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between home care assistants’ job satisfaction and the intent to switch jobs or career path. We also aimed to examine the correlation between home care assistants’ form of employment and their intent to switch jobs or career path. Given the fast approaching difficulties recruiting an adequate amount of care staff in elderly care to cover the demand of care staff in the light of the population at large getting older, which means there are progressively more older people for the younger population to care for. A quantitative study was performed on 74 home care assistants. To analyze our results we used Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the social psychology theory of attitudes and job satisfaction. Our result showed that our respondents were particularly satisfied with the relationship with the care recipients, but it also showed that they were not more inclined to switch jobs or career path when they were dissatisfied with the relationship with the care recipients. The result also showed that the full time employees compared to part time employees had a higher intention to leave their employer. In conclusion, we gathered that there are several components that affect the home care assistants’ inclinations to switch jobs or career path.

The role of social capital in forming organizational commitment is the focus of this research. Organizational social capital is the idea that social relationships have value in the organization. The theoretical framework is based on Kanter's (1993) structure of organizational commitment. This research views the structure within organizations based on global empowerment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and social capital. In addition, the role that race, income, and education affect the organizational structure is also taken into account. The organizational configuration was assembled using a structural equation model with latent variables employing a sample of 235 certified nurse aides. The sample was collected from 10 nursing homes in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metropolitan area. It was expected that Kanter's general format is reestablished within the sample. In fact, the study found that empowerment significantly influences job satisfaction. In turn, job satisfaction does foster organizational commitment. Although Kanter's original thesis was supported in this analysis, it was also determined that social capital plays a significant mediating role in creating organizational commitment. Furthermore, this research indicates that social capital alone can create organizational commitment. Thus, in conclusion, this research builds on Kanter's original idea and argues that organizational commitment is based on job satisfaction, global empowerment, and social capital.