ABSTRACT
An assessment of occupational disease in New York State was undertaken that partially replicated and expanded earlier work from 1987. Utilizing an expanded conception of occupational disease, the assessment used a variety of data sources and methods to provide estimates of mortality and morbidity of occupational disease; workers exposed to specific workplace hazards; disparities in occupational disease among racial/ethnic groups and gender; costs and distribution of costs of occupational disease; and accessible occupational medical resources. Examples of the pathways work may impact health in some of the major health issues of current import including stress-related health conditions; substance use; and overweight/obesity were included. The report contains recommendations for addressing the problem of occupational disease in New York State and advocates for the convening of a statewide group to develop an occupational disease prevention agenda.
Subject(s)
Occupational Diseases , Occupational Health , Humans , New York/epidemiology , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Occupational Diseases/prevention & control , Workplace , Costs and Cost Analysis , Information SourcesABSTRACT
Home healthcare work is physically and emotionally exhausting. In addition, home healthcare workers frequently work under precarious work arrangements for low wages and in poor work conditions. Little is known about how sources of job strain for home healthcare workers might be reduced. This research examines the occupational stressors among paid home care workers by analyzing home healthcare agency characteristics and individual home healthcare workers' experiences in upstate New York agencies (n = 9). The study augments existing theoretical models and describes new sources of stress arising from the nature of agency-based caregiving. Results feature the analysis of both agency executives' (n = 20) and home healthcare workers' narratives (n = 25) to make the agency's inner workings more transparent. Agency structures and culture are implicated in the lack of progress to address home care workers' health problems. Policy change should focus on compensation, healthier work conditions, and training requirements.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Employment/psychology , Health Personnel/psychology , Long-Term Care/psychology , Occupational Health/statistics & numerical data , Stress, Psychological , Workplace/psychology , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , New YorkABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Few occupational researchers have examined "return to work" among patients with work-related respiratory diseases. In addition, prior studies have emphasized individual patient characteristics rather than a more multi-dimensional approach that includes both clinical and structural factors. METHODS: A retrospective chart review identified patients with occupational respiratory diseases in the Occupational Health Clinical Center, Syracuse, NY between 1991 and 2009. We assessed predictors of work status using an exploratory, sequential mixed methods research design, multinomial (n = 188) and Cox regressions (n = 130). RESULTS: The findings suggest that patients with an increased number of diagnoses, non-union members, and those who took more than a year before clinical presentation had significantly poorer work status outcomes, after adjusting for age, education level, and relevant diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to prevent slow return to work after developing occupational respiratory disease should recognize the importance of timely access to occupational health services, disease severity, union membership, and smoking status.
