Home health aides’ experiences of their occupational health: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Grasmo, Sunniva Grønoset; Liaset, Ingeborg Frostad; Redzovic, Skender Elez

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-24825/v1

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(288 reference statements)

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“…A flexible semi-structured interview guide was designed based on literature findings [26] and utilised to facilitate exploring the experiences and understandings of each participant. The interview guide consisted of a comprehensive set of open-ended questions and other additional relevant prompts (e.g., 'How do you perceive your work conditions?…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home care workers’ experiences of work conditions related to their occupational health: a qualitative study

Grasmo

Liaset

Redzovic

2021

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background The need for home care workers (HCWs) is rapidly growing in Norway due to the increasingly growing elderly population. HCWs are exposed to a number of occupational hazards and physically demanding work tasks. Musculoskeletal disorders, stress, exhaustion, high sick leave rates and a high probability of being granted a disability pension are common challenges. This qualitative study explored the views of HCWs on how working conditions affect their safety, health, and wellbeing. Methods A descriptive and explorative design was utilised using semi-structured individual interviews with eight HCWs from three home care units in a middle-sized Norwegian city. Interviews were conducted in the Norwegian language, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The data was analysed by systematic text condensation. Key data quotes were translated into English by the authors. Results HCWs reported that meaningful work-related interactions and relationships contributed to their improved wellbeing. Challenging interactions, such as verbal violence by consumers, were deemed stressful. The unpredictable work conditions HCWs encounter in users’ homes contributed to their exposure to environmental hazards and unhealthy physical workloads. This was the case, although the employer promoted ergonomic work practices such as ergonomic body mechanics when mobilising and handling of clients, using safe patient handling equipment. HCWs perceived high level of individual responsibility for complying with company safety policies and practices, representing a health barrier for some. Organisational frameworks created unhealthy work conditions by shift work, time pressure and staffing challenges. Performing tasks in accordance with HCWs professional skills and identity was perceived as health-promoting. Conclusions This study suggests that unpredictable working conditions at users’ home can adversely affect the safety, health, and wellbeing of HCWs. The interaction between the unpredictable environment at users’ homes, HCWs’ perceived high level of individual responsibility for complying with company safety policies and practices, and staffing challenges due to sickness-related absences upon the workplace creates tense work conditions with a negative influence on HCWs health.

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Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home care workers’ experiences of work conditions related to their occupational health: a qualitative study

Grasmo

Liaset

Redzovic

2021

BMC Health Serv Res

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“…The weekly summary per employee is used to obtain an overall summary for the entire unit, reflecting how well the operations managers implemented the intervention at the unit. Thus, the GoldiCare tool serves several objectives: [ 1 ] operations managers can use it to review previous and planned shifts, and can thus better distribute physically strenuous work in line with the Goldilocks Work Principle to give a sustainable practice in the long term, [ 2 ] both researchers and operations managers can gain insight into the level of physical strain among home care workers in a working week, and [ 3 ] both researchers and operations managers can quantitatively assess home care unit’s compliance with the intervention.…”

Section: Methods—participants Interventions and Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can home care work be organized to promote musculoskeletal health for workers? Study protocol for the Norwegian GoldiCare cluster randomized controlled trial

Lohne

Fimland

Holtermann

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Home care workers perform physically strenuous tasks, in particular when handling patients with high care demands. Thus, musculoskeletal pain and sick leave is greater in this group than in the general population. To ease these issues, we will implement a Goldilocks Work intervention (GoldiCare), redistributing schedules between workers to achieve a “just right” weekly structure of physical work that can promote health. This protocol paper describes the content, design, implementation and evaluation of the cluster randomized controlled trial of the GoldiCare intervention in home care. Methods The cluster randomized controlled trial is a 16-week workplace organizational intervention implemented through operations managers at the home care units. The operations managers will be introduced to the Goldilocks Work Principle and a GoldiCare tool, to assist the operations managers when composing a “just right” distribution of work schedules throughout the week. The GoldiCare tool provides an overview of the physical strain for each shift, based on the number of patients and their need for care. We expect to include 11 units, which will be randomized to either intervention or control at a 1:1 ratio. Home care workers assigned to the control group will continue to work as normal during the intervention period. Musculoskeletal pain in neck/shoulder and lower back will be the primary outcomes and we will also evaluate the composition of physical behaviors as well as fatigue after work as secondary outcomes. We will collect data using (1) daily questions regarding musculoskeletal pain and fatigue after work, (2) 7 days of objective measurements of physical behavior, (3) questionnaires about the participant’s characteristics, health, and workplace psychosocial stressors and (4) information on the implementation of the GoldiCare tool. In addition, a process evaluation will be conducted using focus group discussions and individual interviews. Discussion Due to the increasing aging population in need of care, measures that can improve the health of home care workers are paramount for the sustainability of this sector. This organizational intervention is based on information available nation-wide, and therefore has the potential to be scaled to all municipalities in Norway if proven effective. Trial registration This clinical trial was registered on 08/05/2022 under NCT05487027.

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“…Though professionals may be pet owners, they likely do not share a close reciprocated bond with clients' pets. Further, pets can directly impact professionals (Grasmo et al, 2021) and the relationship with clients (Hodgson et al, 2017(Hodgson et al, , 2020. Identifying the challenges of pet ownership will not only support healthy aging, doing so may improve practitioners' effectiveness and their own wellbeing.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These pets may be a stressor and may even present a safety risk (e.g., dog bite) ( Muramatsu et al, 2019 ; Owczarczak-Garstecka et al, 2019 ). A recent meta-synthesis of home health aides’ descriptions of their own occupational health identified pets as an environmental stressor ( Grasmo et al, 2021 ). Five of the 27 studies included in the analysis described both the impact of the pet on the physical environment as well as pets’ behavior as stressful aspects of the job.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pet ownership issues encountered by geriatric professionals: Preliminary findings from an interdisciplinary sample

et al. 2022

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Pets often factor in older adults’ health behaviors and decisions. However, the degree to which issues related to pet ownership are encountered or addressed by professionals working with this population remains unknown. The aim of this study was to identify specific issues stemming from pet ownership professionals had encountered in their work with older adults, people living with dementia, and care partners. An interdisciplinary (e.g., social services and healthcare) sample (N = 462, 89.13% female, Mage = 53.02, SDage = 12.18) completed an online survey addressing pet ownership issues encountered in their work. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze quantitative data. A conventional content analysis was used to analyze open-ended responses to an item asking about “other” issues encountered in their work with these populations. The professionals estimated 46.29% of clients had been pet owners, 41.23% regularly asked about pets, and 79.22% had encountered issues related to pet ownership. Specific issues raised to the professionals varied by type of client. The professionals reported older adults most often raised getting pet items into the home and concerns about their pets’ health. The issues most often raised by people living with dementia to the professionals were planning for the pet due to a housing transition and basic pet care. Care partners focused on basic pet care and planning for the pet due to a housing transition. The professionals themselves most often raised the issues of basic pet care, concerns about falling, and the pets’ behavior. Professionals who entered clients’ homes were more likely to raise issues stemming from pet ownership compared to those who reported they did not enter clients’ homes in their current job, t(429.40) = 5.59, p < 0.00001. The eleven new issues identified by the content analysis (e.g., pets impeding care, people refusing care due to the pet) underscored how the health and wellbeing of people and their pets are linked. The results of this study provide strong evidence that professionals do encounter issues related to pet ownership. Including issues stemming from pet ownership into procedures, policies, and programs is likely to have positive impacts on those served by and working in the geriatric workforce.

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Home health aides’ experiences of their occupational health: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Cited by 4 publications

References 49 publications

Home care workers’ experiences of work conditions related to their occupational health: a qualitative study

Home care workers’ experiences of work conditions related to their occupational health: a qualitative study

Can home care work be organized to promote musculoskeletal health for workers? Study protocol for the Norwegian GoldiCare cluster randomized controlled trial

Pet ownership issues encountered by geriatric professionals: Preliminary findings from an interdisciplinary sample

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