Social hållbarhet i äldreomsorgen utifrån förutsättningar och belastning bland chefer - Samband mellan chefers förutsättningar och deras arbete för att stärka medarbetares arbetsmiljö och brukares självbestämmande

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the significance of managers’ or-ganizational conditions for their own workload, and their assessment of the ability to com-plete managerial responsibilities regarding systematic occupational health and safety man-agement (SOHSM), as well as meeting user-involvement within the elderly care. Theoretical framework: The results are analyzed based on theories of job demands and resources, as well as psychosocial safety climate. The study carries a broader perspective on social sustainability and goes beyond the consequences overload and sustainability might have for managers to also incorporate what consequences it may have on subordinates’ work-ing environment as well as meeting user-involvement within the elderly care. Method: The study was conducted with a quantitative aim. A survey was answered by a total of 345 respondents; the response rate for the chosen questions used in this study is 70 percent. Analysis was made with descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Main findings: A large portion of the respondents did, to some extent, experience work overload which partially could be explained by shortcomings in governance. Overload, which affects the sustainability among managers, had a negative effect on their overall as-sessment of their abilities to meet requirements regarding SOHSM, which can be understood as psychosocial safety climate, as well as meeting user-involvement within the elderly care. The overall assessment of completing managerial requirements for SOHSM and psychosocial safety climate was generally high but also affected negatively by shortcomings in governance. Access to rules, policies and standardization that support the managerial role co-varied with the assessment of meeting user-involvement. Although a large portion expressed adequate access to resources, the reported amount of managers experiencing overload remains exten-sive. This could indicate that resources only can make up for job demands to a certain extent. For a sustainable management, that could have impact for subordinates as well as elderly re-ceiving care, there is a need for reasonable demands balanced with fair resources