RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERACY SKILLS AND ACTUAL AND ESTIMATED JOB PERFORMANCE OF THE NURSE'S AIDE.
Contributors: Columbia University. Teachers College.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 174
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.; Education, Adult and Continuing.
Description: This study was initiated to describe the basic literacy skills and clinical performance ability of the nurse's aide population working in acute care hospitals and to determine if performance deficits were related to literacy skills. The sample was drawn from nine (VHA) Voluntary Hospitals of America based in New Jersey using a cross sectional design.

Three research questions were asked: first, what are the literacy levels of nurse's aides employed in select acute care facilities; second, is there a relationship between the actual and estimated job performance and levels of literacy; and third, is there a relationship between actual job performance and estimated job performance of the nurse's aides in the study sample? Secondary analyses were conducted to determine if selected demographics, length of employment as a nurse's aide, and use of English as a first language altered the aforementioned relationships. This study has significance for the nursing department, the patient, and the nurse's aide because of its implications for job performance, training, screening, patient safety, productivity within the nursing unit, and quality of care.

The nurse's aide sample presented with an average reading ability of grade level 5.8 as measured by a standardized reading test, suggesting that a literacy deficit exists. Secondly, the standardized test for literacy was related to actual and estimated performance actions required by selected nursing situations within role descriptions of aides. Third, the nurse's aide for whom English was not the first language scored lower on the estimated performance test than aides for whom English was a first language. Secondary analyses also showed that English as a second language predicted errors in actual and estimated performance.

Major conclusions of this study were a literacy deficit exists in the nurse's aide population studied, and estimated and actual performance of the nurse's aide in selected nursing situations can be predicted utilizing a standard reading test. The major recommendation is testing of nurse's aides to discover if a literacy deficit exists. Only by discovering the literacy/performance status of this lower level health care provider can a training program which will insure a quality delivery of care model be developed, implemented, and evaluated.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: B, page: 3688.

Thesis (ED.D.)--COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TEACHERS COLLEGE, 1995.

School code: 0055.