Direct Care Workforce

Watch these videos to hear first-hand from direct-care workers about the services they provide. They share their thoughts on why they do this work, how they are viewed by families, friends, and service recipients, and how they deal with challenges such as discrimination and disrespect. They also provide advice on how to improve the field. The videos are available free at this website or can be ordered as a DVD or VHS with a discussion guide included.

Best practices in HCBS workforce development, Federal and state workforce initiatives, and research findings are highlighted in these slides and handouts. Presentations and workshops touched on wages and benefits, recruitment, credentials, peer support, policy, and more. The agenda, program, and evaluation results are also available. The symposium was hosted by the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center May 8-9, 2008 in Baltimore, MD with support from HHS and the Dept. of Labor.

A broad coalition of stakeholders created this example of a comprehensive state-level workforce development plan. The document suggests solutions to the following workforce challenges: recruitment and retention; education, training and development; data gathering and monitoring; status and awareness of profession; and mentoring and supervision. An executive summary and 1-page call to action targeted at key stakeholders are included.

These kits provide strategic guidance and tools such as checklists and worksheets to help people recruit and retain quality direct support professionals. One version is designed for individuals with disabilities and the other is for their families and support team members. A hard copy with interactive CD is available at the Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative website.

This document sums up the proceedings and conclusions of a summit convened June, 2007 in Washington, D.C. by Mature Market Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving. Six recommendations for future research on family caregiving are made based on identified gaps in knowledge. Also presented is a list of the most important past studies, as identified by participant consensus. Experts in the fields of social work, sociology, economics, psychology, and gerontology participated.

This fact sheet summarizes and analyzes direct-care workforce statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s national occupational projections for 2006-16. The analysis shows that demand for workers will sharply exceed supply. Demand will especially surpass the number of women aged 25-54 entering the workforce, which is the primary demographic group from which direct-care workers are drawn. The analysis also shows that twice as many people will be working in HCBS settings than in facilities.

This is a compendium of three discussion papers on the topics of direct service workers in long-term care and strategies for improving the quality of their jobs and services. The authors, each with a background that includes consultation and technical assistance on the topics, share the premises that these workers are fundamental to the future and quality of long-term care and that current and projected workforce shortages need to be addressed.

This policy paper proposes that the unionization of direct care workers can improve recruitment, retention, and service quality without limiting consumers’ rights and choices. The author explores the historical roots of efforts to address direct support workforce issues, reviews the role of unions in the field in the past, examines emerging support models, and comments on current union efforts.

This article explores the benefits and challenges people who have disabilities experience when managing their personal care programs. It also examines how LIFE Accounts would complement social participation opportunities for persons with disabilities.

This study published in The Gerontologist indicates a mixed portrait of experience and outcomes between service models and worker groups. On most dimensions of stress and satisfaction, consumer-directed workers report outcomes equal to or more positive than agency workers. The study is comprised of a random sample of 618 telephone interviews with workers in the In-Home Supportive Services program in California.