Nursing aides in nursing homes play a critical role in the care of an ever-growing aging population. Although many studies have used aggregate-level data to examine organizational characteristics associated with turnover, few studies use individual-level data to analyze how characteristics of nursing aides in nursing homes predict job separation. This study uses a three-year panel of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine demographic characteristics, employment characteristics, and economic stressors hypothesized to predict job separation from nursing aide jobs in nursing homes ( N =243). The study then notes the frequency of changes out of the industry and occupation through the types of subsequent employment taken by the nursing aides who left their originally observed positions ( N =113).
The event history analysis demonstrates that 3 of the 15 hypothesized predictors display significant direct effects. Specifically, job tenure, not having one's own health insurance, and having a physical or mental health work-limiting condition are predictors of job separation. The results demonstrate a strong relationship between health and mental health conditions and job separation, which is not surprising given the taxing nature of the job.
Among those in the sample who left their jobs during the period of observation, 38.9% continued to work as nursing aides in nursing homes and 13.3% continued to work as nursing aides in some other industry. The number of nursing aides who move out of the profession and enter new jobs with higher wages suggests that increased monetary compensation is important.
