Quality of Working Life in Italian residential long-term care facilities: analytical framework

The QWoRe - Quality of Work on Residential long-term care services in Italy - project aims to provide an accurate and in-depth account of the quality of working life (QoWL) in Italian residential long-term care (LTC) services and to identify innovative strategies to improve workers' wellbeing. This report is the result of collaborative work within the QWoRe research team in the first phase of the project. It provides a multidisciplinary and integrated analytical framework, incorporating various theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches. This framework is based on a comprehensive review of the literature on quality of work, including its conceptualization, operationalisation, measurement, determinants, and outcomes. The report discusses the challenges in defining and measuring quality of work, emphasizing the lack of consensus on terminology and the multidimensional nature of the concept. It also acknowledges the evolution of quality of work research, its interdisciplinary nature, and the contribution of various fields such as labour sociology, organisational studies, the psychology of work, the study of professions, the sociology of emotions, and feminist studies of care. Additionally, the report presents a review of international and Italian literature on QWoL in LTC residential settings, focusing on the specific dimensions, outcomes, and determinants of QoWL in this sector. The analytical framework based on the literature analysis and discussion and summarised at the end of the report will guide the project's data collection and analysis and contribute to the scientific and policy debate on QoWL.