Depression and Diabetes in Workers Across the Life Span: Addressing the Health of America's Workforce-Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2014-2018.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes affects nearly 12.2% of U.S. adults. Comorbid depressive symptoms among U.S. workers with diabetes are associated with increased unemployment and reduced work performance. This study examined the age-group-specific prevalence of depression among U.S. workers with self-reported diabetes and identified factors associated with depression. METHODS: Data from the 2014-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to examine the prevalence of depression among adult workers with diabetes in the United States. Relationships between depression prevalence and diabetes and demographic, physical, and behavioral risk factors were examined through bivariate and multivariable analyses. Age was categorized into four groups: 18-34, 35-54, 55-64, and ≥65 years. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of self-reported depression among U.S. workers with diabetes was 17.4-30% higher than among those without diabetes. Workers with diabetes aged 18-34 years had the highest depression prevalence (28.7%) compared with other age-groups. Female workers with diabetes were significantly more likely than male workers to report depression in all age-groups. Young adult workers with diabetes who had another chronic disease were nearly three times more likely to report depression than those without another chronic condition. There were no overlapping patterns of prevalence of diabetes and depression by state. CONCLUSION: Workers with diabetes are at an increased risk of depression, which can affect their overall health and productivity. These findings indicate that, among those with diabetes, young adult workers and women are most likely to have depression. Employee wellness programs may address the specific needs of individuals with diabetes and depression.

Workers' Compensation Claim Rates and Costs for Musculoskeletal Disorders Related to Overexertion Among Construction Workers - Ohio, 2007-2017.

Overexertion is a leading cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among construction workers. Nearly 90% of construction jobs require manual handling of materials for approximately one half of the worker's time (1). In 2015, overexertion from lifting and lowering materials caused 30% of WMSDs among construction workers; overexertion involving pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, and catching materials caused an additional 37% of WMSDs (1). This study examined the rate and cost of WMSD claims from overexertion among Ohio construction workers during 2007-2017. Workers' compensation claims related to overexertion that were submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation (OHBWC) by workers in the construction industry for injuries and illnesses occurring during 2007-2017 were analyzed. Rates and costs of allowed claims were measured by age group. Workers aged 35-44 years experienced the highest claim rate: 63 per 10,000 full-time employees (FTEs) for WMSDs from overexertion. However, claims by workers aged 45-54 years and 55-64 years were more costly on average and resulted in more days away from work. Ergonomic design improvements and interventions are needed to ensure that the majority of construction workers can safely perform jobs throughout their careers. Age-specific WMSD prevention and risk communication efforts also might be helpful.

Framework for Considering Productive Aging and Work.

OBJECTIVES: The U.S. population is experiencing a demographic transition resulting in an aging workforce. The objective of this article is to elucidate and expand an approach to keep that workforce safe, healthy, and productive. METHODS: This article elucidates the framework for the National Center for Productive Aging at Work of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Subject matter experts used a snowball method to review published literature to substantiate elements in the framework. RESULTS: Evidence-based literature supports a productive aging framework for the workforce involving the following elements: 1) life span perspective; 2) comprehensive and integrated approaches to occupational safety and health; 3) emphasis on positive outcomes for both workers and organizations; and 4) supportive work culture for multigenerational issues. CONCLUSION: The productive aging framework provides a foundational and comprehensive approach for addressing the aging workforce.

Rural Hispanic populations at risk in developing diabetes: sociocultural and familial challenges in promoting a healthy diet.

Type II diabetes affects Hispanic populations disproportionately and is the fifth leading cause of death for Hispanic people in the United States ( Smith & Barnett, 2005 ). Risk of diabetes is of great concern throughout the United States and is clearly of epidemic proportions for regions such as the Southwest and Texas where the primary minority populations are Mexican American. We conducted four focus groups with a total of 49 Hispanic participants (23 adults and 26 adolescents) from rural West Texas communities to gain insights about participants' eating habits, knowledge of diabetes, and potential barriers to preventive care. From the data, we identified a three-tiered predisposition or vulnerability to diabetes-heredity; preferences for unhealthy, culturally based food; and temptations from U.S. mainstream fast food culture. These vulnerabilities added to the sociocultural concerns that participants identified-importance of parental and familial modeling; challenges to healthy eating based on a culturally based diet and mainstream fast food culture; and a lack of support from the larger sociocultural networks such as teachers, community leaders, and the media. From these data, we have a better understanding of familial and sociocultural factors that need to be addressed in the development of preventive public awareness and educational plans. We outline implications for practitioners and educators from an integrated cultural biomedical approach.

Expression of patients' and providers' identities during the medical interview.

We apply the Communication Theory of Identity to investigate how patients display their ethnic identities during intercultural patient-provider interactions. Ethnic identity displays play a large part in reflecting patients' and providers' assumptions about the other, as well as their communicative needs. We collected paper-and-pencil responses from a convenience sample of providers and their patients, and conducted a constant comparative analysis of their open-ended reports of a recent intercultural medical interview. The results revealed how both parties viewed their roles in intercultural medical encounters and how they looked for accommodative behaviors from the other party. We draw implications for new applications and future developments of the Communication Theory of Identity and Communication Accommodation Theory.

The use of humor in promoting positive provider-patient interactions in a hospital rehabilitation unit.

Humor within the health care setting apparently can serve to facilitate positive patient-provider interactions and to create a patient-centered environment. This article provides an ethnographic account of patient-provider interactions held during therapeutic activity sessions within a hospital unit (MIRTH) designed to promote therapeutic humor. This study's findings suggest that humor in these activity sessions was mainly a by-product of more predominant effects, such as patients' positive attitude and happiness. Whereas MIRTH used contrived humor to portray its identity as a humor unit, staff and patients also took advantage of spontaneous humor that emerged out of interactions. Humor appeared secondary to the primary outcome of promoting patients' happiness and well being.