Methods
2.1. Design
A qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted with DCWs of 4 LTC facilities of the central region of
Portugal, between November 2011 and December 2012. Ethical approval was previously obtained by the Ethics
Committee of the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), hosted by the Nursing School of Coimbra,
Portugal.
2.2. Procedures and participants
Four LTC facilities were contacted and the service managers were informed about the study plan. All facilities
agreed to participate. The service managers were asked to identify DCWs who met the following inclusion criteria
to: i) provide regular personal care to people with dementia (e.g., bathing, dressing and toileting); ii) work at the
facility for at least 2 months. Temporary workers, trainees, DCWs working only on the night shift, other health and
social care practitioners (physicians, nurses and social workers) were excluded, as they spend short periods of time
with the residents. After this procedure, potential participants were clarified about the purpose of the study and the
voluntary nature of their participation. All the 58 DCWs agreed to participate. Written informed consent was
obtained prior to any data collection. Demographic data about the DCWs (Table 1) shows that participants were all
female, mainly married (67.2%) and with an average age of 44.72±9.06. Nearly half of the participants (46.4%) had
the primary and middle school and 41.3% the high school. The average length of employment was 9.61±3.72 years.