Key Factors for Enhancing Home Care Workers' Intention to Stay by Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis.

The ageing population is increasing rapidly in Taiwan, where the ageing rate exceeds even that of Japan, the United States and France. The increase in the disabled population and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in an increase in the demand for long-term professional care, and the shortage of home care workers is one of the most important issues in the development of such care. This study explores the key factors that promote the retention of home care workers through multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) to help managers of long-term care institutions retain home care talent. A hybrid model of multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) combining Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and the analytic network process (ANP) was employed for relative analysis. Through literature discussion and interviews with experts, all factors that promote the retention and desire of home care workers were collected, and a hierarchical MCDM structure was constructed. Then, the hybrid MCDM model of DEMATEL and the ANP was used to analyze the questionnaire data of seven experts to evaluate the factor weights. According to the study results, the key direct factors are improving job satisfaction, supervisor leadership ability and respect, while salary and benefits are the indirect factor. This study uses the MCDA research method and establishes a framework by analyzing the facets and criteria of different factors to promote the retention of home care workers. The results will enable institutions to formulate relevant approaches to the key factors that promote the retention of domestic service personnel and to strengthen the intention of Taiwan's home care workers to stay in the long-term care industry.

Multi-criteria analysis applied to humanitarian assistance: an approach based on ELECTRE-MOr.

The recent increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 in Brazil and worldwide, caused by the Omicron Variant, has brought to light concern to the population and the government, especially in the states most affected by the pandemic. To find a way to help combat the pandemic, a case study was conducted to acquire new speedboats by the Brazilian Navy (BN), through the application of the ELECTRE-MOr multicriteria method. The boats would be employed as mobile hospitals, aiming to perform first aid and evacuation of patients from riverside regions to qualified hospitals. Another important use would be the transport of vaccines, medicines and basic supplies for riverside populations, such as water, food and hygiene materials. For the proposed analysis, we consulted three specialists from the BN, who evaluated eight boat models in seven tactical, operational and medical criteria. After the application of the method, the Guardian 25 and RAC boats were chosen to be employed in humanitarian assistance. This study brings a valuable contribution to academia and society since it represents the application of a multi-criteria decision-aid method in the state of the art to contribute to the solution of a real problem that affects millions of people in Brazil and worldwide.