EFFECTS OF PATTERNS OF SUPERVISION ON HOMECARE WORKER PERFORMANCE (TITLE IIIB, OLDER AMERICANS ACT, IN-HOME CARE)
Abstract
There is evidence that more people are beginning to strongly value in-home services for some elderly. Many of these services are provided under Title IIIB of the Older Americans Act by nonprofessionals who are supervised by professionally trained social work supervisors. In this questionnaire survey, the effects of three supervisory styles (Participative, Supervisee-Centered and Task-Centered) were tested for influence on performance of 104 homecare workers who worked in 21 community-based Title IIIB homecare programs. Survey questionnaires were administered to a sample of 22 supervisors and a sample of 137 homecare workers. It was hypothesized that (1) the dominant supervisory style would be Supervisee-Centered; (2) Participative supervision would have more of an effect on performance; (3) age and expertise of supervisors would effect performance and (4) absenteeism would emerge as the most frequent negative indicator of performance. The results showed Participative supervision to be the dominant style; Task-Centered supervision had the most--though not the statistically significant--positive effect on performance. When compared to the other supervisory styles, Supervisee-Centered supervision had a slightly higher negative effect on performance. Absenteeism was the most frequent indicator of negative performance. The most significant results were that homecare workers perform substantially better on the job when (1) the supervisor is perceived to have an effect on performance by the workers and (2) the supervisor is perceived to be an appropriate role model. Other results show that somewhat better performance is produced by workers whose supervisors were women, experts, Black, age 50 or more and who held an MSW Degree. It is suggested that the findings of this study have implications for social work practice, policy, education, research and administration in gerontological settings at the community based level of care.
Subject Area
Social work
Recommended Citation
TRENT, CHARLES HOWARD, "EFFECTS OF PATTERNS OF SUPERVISION ON HOMECARE WORKER PERFORMANCE (TITLE IIIB, OLDER AMERICANS ACT, IN-HOME CARE)" (1985). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8615686.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8615686
