A glimpse at working life: when personal aides become social service auxiliary nurses

The job of the personal aide from the " working conditions and occupational health" angle remains a little investigated avenue of research in this occupational sector.
The work of a personal aide is most valuable in an aging society, yet remains little known. It calls upon a wide range of skills. Every day, personal aides "dovetail" different activities on behalf of assisted persons (housework, washing and dressing, maintaining a relationship based on listening and psychological support, etc.), whilst torn all the while between multiple priorities because time is invariably short. They perform work that is physically arduous and they adapt to every individual situation, each family and they provide effectively terminal care. Occupational health problems take a heavy toll on personal aides. Risk prevention represents a challenge to these occupations.
Understanding the practical work of personal aides forms an essential requirement for sharing potential solutions by all "players" concerned with home support (personal aides, management, financial providers, assisted persons, etc.). In particular, professionalisation of organisations themselves represents a potential for improvement in working conditions of personal aides. However, the crucial issue of the resources placed at their disposal is manifest and requires relating to the manner in which public authorities understand and assess the work of these professionals. Reference is made to experiments in Quebec and Belgium.
This document is intended as an aid to discussion and proposals for raising social awareness to a level compatible with the challenges posed daily by the action of personal aides.