Increasing demands for home health aides to the frail elderly and disabled, coupled with a high rate of turnover among these aides, has led to growing concerns over worker recruitment and retention in the home care industry. This paper therefore describes a model developed to explain job satisfaction and turnover among home health aides. The model was tested using survey data collected for a Ford Foundation-sponsored home care demonstration in five cities. The methods used to estimate the model included an adaptation of the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire to the circumstances of the home aide's job. This instrument was administered to workers employed by 17 agencies in five cities (Boston, Massachusetts; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; New York City, New York; San Diego, California; and Syracuse, New York). Based on critical path analysis, a causal model was developed to explain two outcomes of the questionnaire: intrinsic job satisfaction and intent to leave the job. Youth, loneliness, and dissatisfaction with pay and benefits were the major determinants of aides' intent to leave, while factors affecting workers' job satisfaction included positive attitudes about pay and benefits, supervisor supportiveness, and task variety. The importance of age as a predictor of turnover suggests that employers should focus their recruiting efforts on older workers, who because of temperament or lower employment aspirations seem more inclined to stay with the job. (Tables are included.) (TE)