Abstract
Direct care workers provide the bulk of hands-on care to elders. Though this workforce is integral to the provision of quality long-term care, their role is often overlooked. Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), aides who provide care in skilled nursing facilities, work closely with residents, often for years, resulting in strong bonds. Yet, limited research has examined how this may impact their response to a resident’s death. This study conducted comprehensive semi-structured in-person interviews to explore the experiences of 140 CNAs who had lost a resident in their care within the previous two months. Quantitative and qualitative data were examined to determine to what extent CNAs felt there was support available to them, whether they sought out support, the type of support received and desired, and how the support impacted employment outcomes. Results indicated that only one third of CNAs felt there was supervisory support available to them, though over 60% felt they had the support of their coworkers. Only 16% sought support from their supervisor before the death and even fewer, 9%, sought it after. Yet, over half sought support from coworkers. These findings indicate that CNAs are not likely to seek out support from their supervisor but do experience coworker coworker in the context of resident death. Though perceived as helpful by the CNAs, support from coworkers was found to be positively linked to burnout and grief suggesting that support from coworkers may not necessarily be protective against the negative impacts of resident death, but instead may increase distress.