Home Support Workers
Job description
These individuals help elderly and frail people in their daily tasks. This assistance enables them to stay at home independently for longer periods of time.
Environment
- Controlled ambient temperature
- Odours
Main tasks
- Perform regular housekeeping tasks (doing laundry, washing dishes, making beds, etc.).
- Supervise the taking of medication.
- Prepare meals and feed or help feed people.
- Shop for people and prepare a simple meal without diet restrictions.
- Provide support for clothing and hygiene care.
- Accompany people in their outings.
- Maintain clothing and linens.
- Perform seasonal housekeeping.
- Assist young, elderly, or disabled people and young families.
Training and requirements
Formation
Most training programs are offered in French only.
Secondary
DVS in assistance à la personne en établissement et à domicile
Placement rate: 79.6%
12.3% of graduates pursue further studies
DVS in institutional and Home Care Assistance
Placement rate: 78.8%
15.1% of graduates pursue further studies
Sometimes required
- Training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is often required.
- Job-related experience is often required.
- Home economics experience may be required.
- Training in home support services may be required.
- Training in principles for moving clients safely (PDSB) is often required.
- A Class 5 driver’s licence may be required.
- Physical fitness is usually required.
- Training in elder care, disability, or convalescent care, or in a related program may be required.
Main skills and characteristics
Skills
- Active listening
- Information processing
- Service oriented
- Social perception
- Critical thought
- Data collection
- Reading comprehension
- Result evaluation
- Teaching
- Written expression
- Oral expression
- Time management
- Persuasion
- Active learning
- Coordination
- Judgment and decision-making
- Learning strategies
- Solving complex problems
Abilities
- Verbal skills
- Awareness of issues
- Oral comprehension
- Near vision
- Inductive reasoning
- Speech clarity
- Deductive reasoning
- Information organization
- Speech recognition
- Written expression
- Selective attention
- Classification
- Written comprehension
- Distance vision
- Idea generation
- Hand-arm stability
- Time sharing
Knowledge and attributes
- Capacity to establish and maintain interpersonal relations
- Autonomy
- Knowledge of customer and personalized services
- Honesty
- Capacity to be discrete
- Friendliness
- Assiduity and punctuality
- Respect others
- Sense of observation
- Patience
Interests
- Self-employment
- Assist and advise
- Exercer une activité sportive ou physique
- Assist or care for people
Personality profiles (RIASEC)
- Social
- People with this profile prefer to be in contact with others, in particular to entertain, help or teach them.
- Realistic
- People with this profile prefer carrying out concrete tasks and being physically involved in what they do.
- Enterprising
- People with this profile prefer having responsibilities, influencing others and responding to challenges.
Appellation d’emploi liée (à traduire)
Home support workers, caregivers and related occupations (CNP 44101)
Skill type
Education, law and social, community and government services
Related occupations
Last update: January 29, 2026