Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114823

Donna Bainbridge, PT, EdD, ATC¹, Meg Ann Traci, PhD², Rod Brod, PhD², and Tom Seekins, PhD². (1) Rural Institute, University of Montana, 52 Corbin Hall, Missoula, MT 59812, 406 243-5741, dbridge@ruralinstitute.umt.edu, (2) The University of Montana Rural Institute, 52 Corbin Hall, Missoula, MT 59812

Personal assistant (PA) turnover contributes to onset and severity of secondary conditions by disrupting the environment at multiple levels (Seekins et al., 1999). Turnover can decrease recognition of individual changes, and disrupt routines and reinforcement. Our current research documented average turnover rates for full-time, part-time and relief staff as 36%, 76% and 140% respectively with estimated annual costs of $740 to $25,248 per staff. PAs are responsible for organizing and managing the environment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in supported arrangements (AAMR, 1992), and play significant roles in prevention and management of secondary conditions (Pope, 1992). Understanding factors that contribute to turnover, particularly of full-time staff, informs best practice to stabilize the consumer environment. We sampled 243 PAs from 10 counties regarding job description, satisfaction, and hassles. Ninety percent were full-time; 10% part-time (20- 31 hours). Mean age was 36.7 years (range 18-72); 78% were female. We predicted turnover at organizational and individual levels. High corporate turnover was significantly predicted by high turnover of full-time staff, high ratio of group home clients to total PAs, high levels of PA-client interaction, dissatisfaction with feedback, and low wages. On the individual level, staff who were students, had direct service experience, and were dissatisfied with staff numbers for programmatic needs were more likely to separate. PAs less likely to separate followed projects to completion; were satisfied with income, received higher salaries; and worked in group homes. We will present a logistic model integrating relative impact of factors on subsequent separations.

Learning Objectives: