Abstract:
The condition of dependency is a significant public health problem today and is likely to increase in the future. Care assistant is an important community network in caring for people with long-term dependency. This predictive correlational research aimed to describe the performing roles of caring for persons with dependency among care assistants and to determine factors predicting their roles. Multi-stage random sampling was used to recruit 292 care assistants who met the specified criteria in Chonburi province. Data was collected between January and November using a self-report questionnaire including performing roles of caring, access to information about care, motivation to perform the role, knowledge about care, resources to perform the role (reliability coefficients between 0.701-0.957). Descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression statistics were performed to analyze the data. The study revealed that the overall of the performing roles of caring for persons with dependency among care assistants was rated at a high level (M = 15.45, SD = 3.66). The access to information about care (β=0.359, p < .001), knowledge about care (β=0.267, p<.01), and motivation to perform the role (β=0.265, p < .001) could predict 41.00 % of the variance accounted. (R2adj=.410, F = 68.541, p < .05). These findings suggest that nurses, and other health personnel who work in communities should address for promoting the performing roles of caring for persons with dependency among care assistants through developing program by focusing on supporting access to information about care along with improving knowledge about care and building motivation to perform the role to lead high performance of their roles and good effectiveness and efficiency in caring for those who are dependent.