Home Care Aides’ Experiences of Verbal Abuse: A Survey of Characteristics and Risk Factors

Details

• Personal Author:
  Galligan CJ ; Gore RJ ; Karlsson ND ; Kriebel D ; Markkanen PK ; Quinn, Margaret M. ; Sama SR
• Description:
  Objective: Violence from care recipients and family members, including both verbal and physical abuse, is a serious occupational hazard for healthcare and social assistance workers. Most workplace violence studies in this sector focus on hospitals and other institutional settings. This study examined verbal abuse in a large home care (HC) aide population and evaluated risk factors. Methods: We used questionnaire survey data collected as part of a larger mixed methods study of a range of working conditions among HC aides. This paper focuses on survey responses of HC aides (n=954) who reported on verbal abuse from non-family clients and their family members. Risk factors were identified in univariate and multivariable analyses. Results: Twenty-two per cent (n=206) of aides reported at least one incident of verbal abuse in the 12 months before the survey. Three factors were found to be important in multivariable models: clients with dementia (relative risk (RR) 1.38, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.78), homes with too little space for the aide to work (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.97) and predictable work hours (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.94); two additional factors were associated with verbal abuse, although not as strongly: having clients with limited mobility (RR 1.35, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.93) and an unclear plan for care delivery (RR 1.27, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.69). Aides reporting verbal abuse were 11 times as likely to also report physical abuse (RR 11.53; 95% CI 6.84 to 19.45). Conclusions: Verbal abuse is common among HC aides. These findings suggest specific changes in work organisation and training that may help reduce verbal abuse. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Home Care Services Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Violence Workplace
• Keywords:
  Abuse Coping Behavior Health Care Personnel Health Surveys Home Health Care Medical Personnel Nursing Questionnaires Risk Factors Work Environment Workplace Violence

  More +
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  448-454
• Volume:
  76
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056199
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2019 Jul; 76(7):448-454
• Contact Point Address:
  Professor Margaret M Quinn, Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
• Email:
  margaret_quinn@uml.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts - Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20230831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:544ac38fcb854e5017096ead9e7b999e5ae4e3aafae9c73bfa38a48758d3f2ea5fd62d9eca72c2d2f03329cfb8ddae1842039c38058779e516680840d8a84401
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213853/cdc_213853_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 277.78 KB ]