The Home Care Work Environment for Personal Assistance Service Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Eversley R ; Faucett J ; Kang T ; Newcomer R
• Description:
  Occupational injury is a prevalent problem in long-term care. However, there is a noticeable lack of research related to workers providing Personal Assistance Services (PAS) - the personal care and housekeeping tasks that enable elderly and other disabled adults to live in community settings. We conducted a statewide computer assisted telephone survey of PAS providers (n=855) from California's In Home Supportive Services program to describe the homecare environment and its impact on the worker's health and ability to provide care. PAS providers reported on a variety of household and personal care tasks, including client lifting and transfers, as well as on barriers to care delivery. A total of 262 providers (31%) reported musculoskeletal symptoms or acute injuries causing at least moderate pain (defined as 'prominent' problems) that had occurred in the prior 12 months; 25% of that group (n=65) reported 12 or more episodes in the previous 12 months of probable work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Because of these prominent problems, 26 workers missed work, 54 changed their work duties, and 12 had to drop work hours or clients. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Engineering Ergonomics Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Biomechanics Engineering-controls Equipment-design Exposure-levels Force Humans Injuries Medical-personnel Medical-services Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Posture Risk-factors Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  54
• Issue:
  15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052057
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting, September 27-October 1, 2010, San Francisco, California. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010 Sep; 54(15):1591-1594
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Performing Organization:
  University of California San Francisco
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070901
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting, September 27-October 1, 2010, San Francisco, California
• End Date:
  20100831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f1af740a6d228a5969f4786e2f8b318f3cf67372e08a0f2a51c267e207f9bad801d665c3f1086d7fbe2b3e01469c338eb71851c2fd3ee1903d33e547df3bb814
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/211663/cdc_211663_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 573.33 KB ]