Employee Perceptions on Ethics, Racial-Ethnic and Work Disparities in Long-Term Care: Implications for Ethics...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Ethics
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Ethical environments are crucial in long-term care (LTC) settings.
• Employee perceptions of ethics can be influenced by disparities.
• Understanding these perceptions is vital for improving care quality and staff retention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate ethics perceptions among LTC employees.
• To test for disparities in ethics perception based on race-ethnicity and job position.
• To examine the relationship between ethics perceptions and key work features.

Main Methods:

• A cohort cross-sectional survey was administered to 275 LTC employees.
• Established questionnaires with robust psychometrics were used.
• Statistical analyses included ANOVA and Pearson Correlations.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in ethics perception were found across racial-ethnic groups (p < 0.03) and work positions (p < 0.0001).
• Strong correlations (r = 0.26–0.68, p < 0.0001) were observed between ethics perception and work features like job satisfaction and intention to remain.
• Employees reported relatively low involvement in ethics discussions and decisions.

Conclusions:

• Ethics perceptions in LTC are influenced by racial-ethnic and positional disparities.
• Enhancing employee involvement in ethics discussions and decisions can improve job satisfaction and retention.
• Ethics committees may offer a strategy to improve LTC quality and address employee concerns, especially post-COVID-19.