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Introduction
There is growing appreciation that care recipients' satisfaction is linked to the job satisfaction of those who are providing their care (Sikorska-Simmons, 2006). However, while the problems experienced by front-line care workers when providing care for people with dementia are numerous, less attention has been given to work satisfaction or enjoyment of work in the care home context. The objective of this review is to explore the research evidence on what people report they enjoy when working in front-line dementia care jobs in long-term care facilities (care homes).
Background
This paper starts with a brief outline of the characteristics of care homes for people with dementia in England to set the context of the review. Residential or long-term care provision in England is large in terms of "beds" but varies by employer, size of care homes, resident payments, and resident characteristics and needs and staffing profiles (such as full- or part-time status). The regulator of health and social care services, the Care Quality Commission (2014), recently reported that there were 17,350 residential care homes and nursing homes registered in England; 4,676 being care homes with nursing and 12,976 being care homes without nursing. Some of these homes (302) were dually registered as both care homes and as care homes with nursing. Translated into beds, this amounts to 463,161 "beds" of which just over half were care home beds ( n =242,726), just under half were in care homes with nursing homes ( n =220,435 beds) and the remainder were in those dually registered homes ( n =15,077). Skills for Care (the sector skills body) recently estimated that around 566,000 people are employed in care homes in England. Of those 289,000 people work in registered care only homes ( n =289,000), 276,000 work in care homes with nursing (276,000) and 1,000 work in "other" regulated residential services (Skills for Care, 2013).
Within the main categories of care homes (with or without nursing and dual registered provision), care homes may be referred to as elderly mentally infirm (EMI) homes, specialising in dementia care where staff care for residents with moderate to severe dementia. Although the term "EMI" is not a registration category for care homes it is still used informally, in advertising and is understood by...