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An Ergonomic Perspective on the Workload of Home Care Aides



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  • Personal Author:
    Sun C
  • Description:
    Home care aides are exposed to heavy client handling, other physically demanding activities, and hazardous home conditions. These factors might contribute to the musculoskeletal strains or injuries that they are experiencing. However, there had been little previous research on the associations between the characteristics of low back pain and these work factors. It is also unclear whether using low-tech transfer devices could reduce home care aides' workload during client transferring. In this thesis, a cross-sectional survey was designed to collect information about the occupational characteristics, work organization, and physical workload of home care aides. The survey was distributed to both agency-hired aides and client-hired aides. Physical activities, clients' health conditions, and home conditions were examined as a function of the type of employment and client mobility. The survey was also used to investigate the association between work factors and low back pain. A laboratory experiment was used to evaluate the biomechanical exposure during client transfers between bed and wheelchair using four different low-tech transfer devices and manual transfers, and compared the boards' usability with each other. The survey results showed that client-hired aides are more likely to care for clients with limited mobility. Higher frequencies of client handling activities and other direct care activities were associated with clients with limited mobility. Low back pain was commonly present among home care aides and was characterized as a frequent occurrence, moderately severe and related to their home care work. Client handling activity, hazardous home environments, obese clients or client with limited mobility were separately indicative of higher physical demands and increased risk for low back pain. A hypothetical multivariate low back pain model was proposed to examine whether client handling activities, other direct care activities, housework and cleaning activities, length of work in home care, using transfer devices, hazardous home conditions, clients with obesity or with limited mobility were associated with low back pain. The final model suggested that the combined effects of client handling activities, hazardous home conditions as well as length of work in home care were positively associated with the elevated risk of low back pain. The laboratory study suggested that the exerted hand forces and the average trunk flexion velocities using a transfer device were significantly lower than in a manual transfer. Transfer devices with a sliding mechanism provided easier transfers than boards without a sliding mechanism. It is strongly recommended to form a high to low transfer in order to take advantage of gravity when performing client transferring. Home care agencies are suggested to establish an ergonomic assessment program in order to assess clients' conditions and physical limitations, and to provide and make transfer devices accessible to the aides in order to avoid unnecessary manual client handling. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISBN:
    9781339985916
  • Publisher:
    ProQuest LLC.
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Dissertation
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20056271
  • Citation:
    Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC., 2016 Apr; :10143371
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2016
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Healthcare and Social Assistance
  • Performing Organization:
    University of Massachusetts - Lowell
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20040901
  • Source Full Name:
    An ergonomic perspective on the workload of home care aides
  • End Date:
    20230831
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:715b3a817aeb0958c6393ec79953f0a98cd944285bd53a322fea942bc5dde1ee5273f985c9bf4efdfe2d3f14d3bac7158857abb17be54c5ed6da8dede711251d
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 4.93 MB ]
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