Includes bibliographical references and index.

This case study reviews a mixed-methods, longitudinal study, which examines factors predicting job termination and the job experiences of home care aides. Home care aides are an essential component of our long-term care system, and as our population ages, we face an inadequate supply of these valuable direct-care workers. Increasing recruitment and retention of this workforce is essential to providing quality care to older adults with chronic disabilities who choose to "age-in-place"that is, at home in their communities. The study described herei?the Home Care Worker Retention Stud?utook place in Maine between 2008 and 2011. In the case study, I review the rationale for a longitudinal, mixed-methods design given the research questions and the state of the literature on this topic at the time of the study. I give particular attention to the start-up issues of obtaining human participants approval from the Institutional Review Board, constructing a survey instrument, and obtaining an adequate sample. The Home Care Worker Retention Study received funding from the National Institute on Aging through a mechanism that supports training students in health sciences research. Social work and nursing students were essential members of the research team, carrying out tasks in data collection and analysis. I underscore research practicalities such as securing quality data, retaining study participants in a longitudinal study, and completing qualitative data analysis with a team.

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