A Correlational Study of the Relationship between Human Caring and Nursing Home Administrator Turnover

Many nursing homes in the United States are experiencing a significant state of fluctuation in nursing home staff which is believed to have contributed to a “dysfunctional” crisis. There are reports of substantial nursing staff and administrator turnover rates in numerous nursing homes around the country. This is of significant concern as it is predicted that the U.S. will soon experience an explosion in its’ Baby Boomer population. This projected growth of the older population is expected to substantially impact American healthcare providers, especially those providing services for the elderly residing in nursing homes. Many nursing homes are in need of strong, reliable, and caring administrators to lead and deliver high quality healthcare services. There is a significant amount of nursing literature addressing how important human caring is to the development of transpersonal relationships, which is essential to the development of caring and healing environments. However, the nursing home administrator is not specially addressed. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the relationship between human caring and nursing home administrator turnover.
A correlational research design using a purposive sample of 144 licensed nursing facility administrators (LNFAs) in the state of Texas was used in this study. The data were collected from Caring Dimension Inventory (CDI) questionnaires mailed to subjects. The resulting dataset from the CDIs was analyzed by use of Pearson’s correlation and other statistical tests to examine associations, relationships, and differences between LNFA’s caring scores, turnover rates, and selected LNFA demographics. Additional analyses were conducted to determine caring scores and turnover rates of LNFAs who participated in this study. Findings revealed no significant association between human caring levels and turnover rates of LNFAs in this study. There was also no evidence indicating that higher level of human caring increases LNFA retention. However, all LNFAs in this study exhibited high levels of human caring. The overall mean caring level of LNFA’s was 4.39 and average LNFA turnover rate was 28%. Additionally, none of the statistical analyses detected any significant associations, relationships, or differences between LNFA’s caring levels, turnover rates, and selected demographics.