How does the distribution of work tasks among home care personnel relate to workload and health-related quality of life?

• Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Main Authors: Norström, Fredrik, Zingmark, Magnus, Pettersson-Strömbäck, Anita, Sahlén, Klas Göran, Öhrling, Malin, Bölenius, Karin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2023
• Subjects: Environmental Health and Occupational Health; Health Care Service and Management; Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; EQ-5D; Health care; Occupational health; QPSNordic; Sweden; Work environment; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2ee5e8d2-e1b7-4d40-b467-a71c0c10f858; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-023-01997-2

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.