Project A: Integrated Approaches to Improving the Health and Safety of Health Care Workers

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Health Behavior, Sleep, MSDs, Dietary Habits, Physical Activity

In brief

While most of the research on integrated approaches of occupational health and safety and worksite health promotion to date has focused on manufacturing settings, employment is shifting to the service sector. Within this sector, health care employs over 12 million workers, and is the second fastest growing industry in the U.S. economy. In contrast to workers in other industries, rates of occupational injuries and illnesses among health care workers have increased over the past decade. The purpose of this study is to lay the foundation for integrated interventions in health care through examination of the associations of worker health outcomes and risks on and off the job with work policies and practices and to address the prevalent issues of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), particularly low back pain disability (LBPD), and health promotions through physical activity among patient care workers. The specific aims of this study are: 1. To estimate the efficacy and determine the feasibility of an integrated intervention, addressing both health protection and health promotion in order to reduce MSD symptoms and improve health behaviors among healthcare workers. We will assess between-group differences in MSD symptoms, health behaviors, including physical activity, and a set of secondary outcomes, including unplanned absence, reported injuries, worker compensation claims and costs, turnover and retention, intention to leave the job, and work-role function. This study will explore the working hypothesis that: Workers employed at baseline in patient-care units receiving the intervention will report greater reductions in their MSD symptoms (primary outcome) and greater improvements in health behaviors, compared with workers employed at baseline in units assigned to the Usual Care control group. 2. To determine the factors in the work environment which contribute over time to reductions in MSD symptoms and improvements in safe and healthy behaviors. (1) The work environment, work organization, and psychosocial factors, measured in our current study, will be associated with changes in workers' health behaviors and health outcomes between the assessments in the current and proposed studies; (2) Improvements in the work environment over time will be associated with improvements in workers' health behaviors and health outcomes. We will conduct multilevel modeling analysis to evaluate the simultaneous effects of worker-level and unit-level factors on MSD symptoms and safety and health behaviors.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT01841983
Run by: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
People needed: 9500
Starts: 2012-04-01
Expected to finish: 2014-06-01
Last updated by the study team: 2015-05-07

Who can join

Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Adult and pediatric in-patient care units at Massachusetts General Hospital that have ceiling lifts in place (n=42 units) are eligible for the intervention.
Patient care workers, including registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), patient care assistants (PCAs)/nursing assistants (NAs) and Nurse Leaders working in in-patient units for at least 20 hours per week (n= 9500).
Of those patient care workers, those working in adult and pediatric in-patient care units (n=90 units) are eligible to be randomly selected for surveys.

You may not qualify if…

Where it is running

Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Harvard School of Public Health — Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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