Having a Say Matters: The Association Between Home Health Aides’ Voice and Job Satisfaction

Mara Bensson-Ravunniarath,1 Joanna Bryan Ringel,2 Ariel Avgar,3 Faith Wiggins,4 Ann Lee,4 Margaret V McDonald,5 Lourdes R Guerrero,6 John Kallas,3 Geoffrey Gusoff,7 Megan Shen,8 Emily Tseng,9 Nicola Dell,9 Sara Czaja,2 Lee A Lindquist,10 Madeline R Sterling2 1Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 2Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 3Cornell University, School of Industrial Labor Relations, Ithaca, NY, USA; 4 1199SEIU Training and Employment Fund, New York, NY, USA; 5Center for Home Care Policy & Research, VNS Health, New York, NY, USA; 6Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; 7Department of Family Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 8Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA; 9Cornell Tech, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA; 10Division of Geriatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USACorrespondence: Madeline R Sterling, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, 420 East 70th Street, Room LH-357, New York, NY, 10021, USA, Tel +1646-962-5029, Email mrs9012@med.cornell.eduPurpose: Despite a rapidly growing need for home health aides (HHAs), turnover rates are high. While this is driven in large part by the demanding nature of their work and low wages, another factor may be that HHAs are often not considered part of the medical team which can leave them feeling unheard by other healthcare professionals. We sought to determine whether this concept, or HHAs’ perceived voice, was associated with job satisfaction.Methods and Design: This cross-sectional survey of English- and Spanish-speaking HHAs caring for adults with heart failure (HF) was conducted from June 2020 to July 2021 in New York, NY in partnership with a labor management fund of a large healthcare union that provides benefits and training to HHAs. Voice was assessed with a validated 5-item scale (total