Psychological morale and job satisfaction among homecare workers who care for persons with AIDS

This paper reports the findings of a study of 103 home care workers who have cared for PWAs. It investigated degree of "exposure" to AIDS cases, perception of risk of occupational contagion, client/worker relationships, attitudes toward homosexuality and drug abuse and other work related factors for their relationship with psychological morale and job satisfaction. Multivariate analyses found sociodemographic characteristics and physical health to be the strongest predictors of morale. The quality of client/worker relationships and risk perception were the strongest predictors of job satisfaction. These findings, and that of the relative lack of importance of exposure to AIDS cases and attitudes toward the risk groups in accounting for job satisfaction, are discussed in terms of qualitative data collected from respondents during informal small group discussions.