The October 2009 issue of The Gerontologist features two studies that use data from the 2004 National Nursing Assistant Survey (NNAS).

The first-ever national survey of certified nursing assistants in the United States, the NNAS is considered a pathbreaking evidence base for policy, practice, and research initiatives to improve nursing assistant recruitment and retention efforts.

Intrinsic Job Satisfaction

In the first study in the most recent issue — “Intrinsic Job Satisfaction, Overall Satisfaction, and Intention to Leave the Job Among Nursing Assistants in Nursing Homes” — identifies key intrinsic job factors for nursing assistants, including the ability to self-direct, a sense of accomplishment, and the opportunity to develop skills.

Of the factors examined, “assessment of supervisor behavior” and “pay satisfaction” showed the strongest associations with both intrinsic job satisfaction and overall satisfaction for nursing assistants. In turn, job satisfaction showed a strong association with a nursing assistant’s “intent to leave” his or her position.

While the relationship between supervisor assessment and overall nursing assistant job satisfaction confirms the findings of previous studies, the importance of nursing assistant pay satisfaction is a new and noteworthy finding.

Fair Compensation and Respectful Working Conditions

The other study — “Nursing Home Work Practices and Nursing Assistants’ Job Satisfaction” — illustrates the importance of fair compensation and respectful working conditions to nursing assistant job satisfaction.

By matching a sample of nursing assistants with their employing nursing homes, the authors discover strong relationships between job satisfaction and several variables, including fair wages, respectful relationships with supervisors, and reasonable work demands.

These studies underscore the fact that overall job satisfaction of nursing assistants is largely dependent upon adequate compensation, appropriate workloads, positive relationships with supervisors, and working conditions that promote respect and independence. They also suggest that addressing these issues may help to stabilize the nursing assistant workforce.

The April 2009 issue of The Gerontologist featured two previous studies based on the NNAS.