Physically Demanding Work and Physical Activity in Health Care Workers: Developing Key Messages for Integrated Interventions

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arias O ; Dennerlein J ; Sorensen, Glorian ; Stoffel S ; Umukoro P
• Description:
  Since physically demanding jobs provide both risk and prevention challenges to all-case morbidity of workers our goal was to describe how work contributes to physical activity and describe the physical demands of a job for health care workers. Using accelerometers we measured the physical activity of 50 patient care workers from two urban acute care hospitals for 7 days. For one shift we also collected data on torso bending using an inclinometer to describe the physical demands of a job. At the end of the seven days participants completed a brief questionnaire including self-reported measures of physical activity, pain, fatigue, and functional limitations. Based on the accelerometer data, six participants met the WHO guidelines for physical activity. Work provided some moderate activity for 7 participants, but only one met the recommended guidelines. The frequency of bending measured with the inclinometer was within physiological limits defined by NIOSH and due to the short nature in duration was correlated with minutes of light and lifestyle physical activity. Minutes of moderate and vigorous activity outside of work was negatively correlated with self-reported vigorous activity at work, fatigue, and functional limitations. Self-reported levels of physical activity were not correlated with directly measured activity levels or with the inclinometer data. While these data are cross-sectional, they provide a basis to develop key messages for worker health interventions on the balance of the physical demands of work and achieving recommended physical activity. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Activity Levels Author Keywords: Physical Activity Health Care Workers Intervention Physical Exercise Total Worker Health TWH Workplace Safety
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061462
• Citation:
  APHA 140th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 27-31, 2012, San Francisco, California. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2012 Oct; :262090
• Contact Point Address:
  Jack Dennerlein, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health, Environmental Health, Landmark Center, 404L West, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA 02215
• Email:
  jax@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20070901
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 140th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 27-31, 2012, San Francisco, California
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d16183d3f0a51f388ed66985a5ca6b25b4d7b0c384b348ac2d8d6fd18600e08b4568c770ddd7dc9377c5264d9b14292955996a8bf389acd79912db03a76270df
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224991/cdc_224991_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 160.97 KB ]