Essential Long-Term Care Workers Commonly Hold Second Jobs and Double- or Triple-Duty Caregiving Roles

Details

• Personal Author:
  Coe NB ; DePasquale N ; Van Houtven CH
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: Long-term care (LTC) facilities are particularly dangerous places for the spread of COVID-19 given that they house vulnerable high-risk populations. Transmission-based precautions to protect residents, employees, and families alike must account for potential risks posed by LTC workers' second jobs and unpaid care work. This observational study describes the prevalence of their (1) second jobs, and (2) unpaid care work for dependent children and/or adult relatives (double- and triple-duty caregiving) overall and by occupational group (registered nurses [RNs], licensed practical nurses [LPNs], or certified nursing assistants [CNAs]). DESIGN: A descriptive secondary analysis of data collected as part of the final wave of the Work, Family and Health Study. SETTING: Thirty nursing home facilities located throughout the northeastern United States. PARTICIPANTS: A subset of 958 essential facility-based LTC workers involved in direct patient care. MEASUREMENTS: We present information on LTC workers' demographic characteristics, health, features of their LTC occupation, additional paid work, wages, and double- or triple-duty caregiving roles. RESULTS: Most LTC workers were CNAs, followed by LPNs and RNs. Overall, more than 70% of these workers agreed or strongly agreed with this statement: "When you are sick, you still feel obligated to come into work." One-sixth had a second job, where they worked an average of 20 hours per week, and more than 60% held double- or triple-duty caregiving roles. Additional paid work and unpaid care work characteristics did not significantly differ by occupational group, although the prevalence of second jobs was highest and accompanying work hours were longest among CNAs. CONCLUSION: LTC workers commonly hold second jobs along with double- and triple-duty caregiving roles. To slow the spread of COVID-19, both the paid and unpaid activities of these employees warrant consideration in the identification of appropriate clinical, policy, and informal supports. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Family Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Long-term Care Workers COVID-19 Pandemic Disease Prevention Double- And Triple-duty Caregiving Families Gerontology Health Care Facilities Health Care Workers Infectious Diseases Nurses Nursing Nursing Home Policy Second Jobs Work Schedules

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• ISSN:
  0002-8614
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  68
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059851
• Citation:
  J Am Geriatr Soc 2020 Aug; 68(8):1657-1660
• Contact Point Address:
  Courtney Harold Van Houtven, PhD, MSc,, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Department of Population Health Sciences and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Durham, NC 27705
• Email:
  courtney.vanhoutven@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Portland State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• End Date:
  20081130
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5f5f1c54a7411f56e524792ca3fe62b02058846589c3d8d27d43609878e23cb72740af6bbd9f2aadb179086b2657d081008a7c8f6362e5dc997ec425f6fe6823
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223916/cdc_223916_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 341.33 KB ]