In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic
Abstract Background The in-home work environment is the main work environment for home care workers, but it has only been sparsely studied. Our aim was to investigate the in-home work environment for home care workers by exploring challenges that arise regardless of a pandemic and by investigating C...
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BMC
2025-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Health Services Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-12161-y |
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| author | Fredrik Norström Karin Bölenius Klas-Göran Sahlén Magnus Zingmark Anita Pettersson-Strömbäck |
| author_facet | Fredrik Norström Karin Bölenius Klas-Göran Sahlén Magnus Zingmark Anita Pettersson-Strömbäck |
| author_sort | Fredrik Norström |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The in-home work environment is the main work environment for home care workers, but it has only been sparsely studied. Our aim was to investigate the in-home work environment for home care workers by exploring challenges that arise regardless of a pandemic and by investigating Covid-19–specific challenges. Methods Two cross-sectional studies were conducted, one before (2017) and one during the pandemic (2021/2022) in three Swedish regions (Jämtland/Härjedalen, Västerbotten and Västernorrland), in which 1,154 (58%) out of 2,000 and 629 (33%) of 1,900 invited home care workers participated, respectively. Participants responded to a questionnaire asking about 10 problems associated with the in-home work environment as well as Covid-19–related challenges. Comparisons were conducted between regions and between study years using univariable analyses. Results Daily problems with the in-home work environment were common before the pandemic, and they increased statistically significantly during the pandemic for, among other things, non-ergonomic beds (29% vs. 37%), impractical bathrooms (40% vs. 50%), indoor smoking (24% vs. 31%), and pets (19% vs. 25%). There were major concerns about the risk of getting infected with Covid-19 for both staff (42%) and the home care recipients (50%). There were statistically significant differences between regions, e.g. many problems were more common in the Västerbotten region than in the other two regions during the pandemic, while challenges with protective equipment was most common in the Västernorrland region. Conclusions In-home work environment problems are common for home care workers and worsen in a more strained situation. Efforts are needed to strengthen the work environment for home care workers. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d19b1aac2da446d98da9f9858e32871f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1472-6963 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Health Services Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-d19b1aac2da446d98da9f9858e32871f2025-01-26T12:21:58ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632025-01-0125111110.1186/s12913-024-12161-yIn-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemicFredrik Norström0Karin Bölenius1Klas-Göran Sahlén2Magnus Zingmark3Anita Pettersson-Strömbäck4Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Nursing, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Umeå UniversityAbstract Background The in-home work environment is the main work environment for home care workers, but it has only been sparsely studied. Our aim was to investigate the in-home work environment for home care workers by exploring challenges that arise regardless of a pandemic and by investigating Covid-19–specific challenges. Methods Two cross-sectional studies were conducted, one before (2017) and one during the pandemic (2021/2022) in three Swedish regions (Jämtland/Härjedalen, Västerbotten and Västernorrland), in which 1,154 (58%) out of 2,000 and 629 (33%) of 1,900 invited home care workers participated, respectively. Participants responded to a questionnaire asking about 10 problems associated with the in-home work environment as well as Covid-19–related challenges. Comparisons were conducted between regions and between study years using univariable analyses. Results Daily problems with the in-home work environment were common before the pandemic, and they increased statistically significantly during the pandemic for, among other things, non-ergonomic beds (29% vs. 37%), impractical bathrooms (40% vs. 50%), indoor smoking (24% vs. 31%), and pets (19% vs. 25%). There were major concerns about the risk of getting infected with Covid-19 for both staff (42%) and the home care recipients (50%). There were statistically significant differences between regions, e.g. many problems were more common in the Västerbotten region than in the other two regions during the pandemic, while challenges with protective equipment was most common in the Västernorrland region. Conclusions In-home work environment problems are common for home care workers and worsen in a more strained situation. Efforts are needed to strengthen the work environment for home care workers.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-12161-yStaffEquipmentWork conditionsCross-sectional study |
| spellingShingle | Fredrik Norström Karin Bölenius Klas-Göran Sahlén Magnus Zingmark Anita Pettersson-Strömbäck In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic BMC Health Services Research Staff Equipment Work conditions Cross-sectional study |
| title | In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic |
| title_full | In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic |
| title_short | In-home work environment for home care workers in Northern Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | in home work environment for home care workers in northern sweden before and during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Staff Equipment Work conditions Cross-sectional study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-12161-y |
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