Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
How does the distribution of work tasks among home care personnel relate to workload and health-related quality of life?
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0457-2175
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health. Municipality of Östersund, Health and Social Care Administration, Östersund, Sweden; Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1087-8656
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology.
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3975-4868
Show others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, ISSN 0340-0131, E-ISSN 1432-1246, Vol. 96, no 8, p. 1167-1181Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: The work for Swedish home care workers is challenging with a variety of support and healthcare tasks for home care recipients. The aim of our study is to investigate how these tasks relate to workload and health-related quality of life among home care workers in Sweden. We also explore staff preferences concerning work distribution.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 municipalities in Northern Sweden. Questionnaires with validated instruments to measure workload (QPSNordic) and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D), were responded by 1154 (~ 58%) of approximately 2000 invited home care workers. EQ-5D responses were translated to a Quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) score. For 15 different work task areas, personnel provided their present and preferred allocation. Absolute risk differences were calculated with propensity score weighting.

Results: Statistically significantly more or fewer problems differences were observed for: higher workloads were higher among those whose daily work included responding to personal alarms (8.4%), running errands outside the home (14%), rehabilitation (13%) and help with bathing (11%). Apart from rehabilitation, there were statistically significantly more (8–10%) problems with anxiety/depression for these tasks. QALY scores were lower among those whose daily work included food distribution (0.034) and higher for daily meal preparation (0.031), both explained by pain/discomfort dimension. Personnel preferred to, amongst other, spend less time responding to personal alarms, and more time providing social support.

Conclusion: The redistribution of work tasks is likely to reduce workload and improve the health of personnel. Our study provides an understanding of how such redistribution could be undertaken.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2023. Vol. 96, no 8, p. 1167-1181
Keywords [en]
EQ-5D, Health care, Occupational health, QPSNordic, Sweden, Work environment
National Category
Occupational Health and Environmental Health Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-212245DOI: 10.1007/s00420-023-01997-2Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85164466556OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-212245DiVA, id: diva2:1783355
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2015-00647Available from: 2023-07-20 Created: 2023-07-20 Last updated: 2023-12-22Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(627 kB)72 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT02.pdfFile size 627 kBChecksum SHA-512
448c996081a976933c461bf56d818893f4a5e20083452e25c31d1a614dc0e6975cb6e3db3769016745154a166574b4ef18035e4d65b0aba54af953dc3a3f54c8
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Norström, FredrikZingmark, MagnusPettersson-Strömbäck, AnitaSahlen, Klas-GöranÖhrling, MalinBölenius, Karin

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Norström, FredrikZingmark, MagnusPettersson-Strömbäck, AnitaSahlen, Klas-GöranÖhrling, MalinBölenius, Karin
By organisation
Department of Epidemiology and Global HealthDepartment of PsychologyDepartment of Nursing
In the same journal
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
Occupational Health and Environmental HealthHealth Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 109 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 431 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf