None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The study intends to assess the human and financial cost benefits of providing aged care workers with enhanced working conditions including proactive physiotherapy care of joints and muscles separate from and together with direct psychlogical support in building stress resilience and indirectly through developing 'top down' improvement in psychosocial safety culture and enhanced team leadership. It is anticipated that both physiotherapeutic and psychological interventions alone will reduce the human and financlal cost of work related physical and emotional stress. We further anticipate that physical and psychological support combined will act synergistically to reduce injury (physical and emotional). Such reductions are anticipated to be demonstrable via objective measures of cost saving as well as self report of enhanced well being.
Interventions
A) Physiotherapeutic Intervention
1) Professional assessment of existing (subacute) muscle and joint strain and overall physical health
2) Proactive professional managment of any subacute muscle/joint strain
3) Guidance in exercises to strengthen muscle function appropriately
B) Psychological Intervention
1) Training and advice in building strong psychosocial safety culture ( for owners and proprietors of aged care facilities)
2) Training and guidance in team leadership dynamics (shift superviso
A) Physiotherapeutic Intervention 1) Professional assessment of existing (subacute) muscle and joint strain and overall physical health 2) Proactive professional managment of any subacute muscle/joint strain 3) Guidance in exercises to strengthen muscle function appropriately B) Psychological Intervention 1) Training and advice in building strong psychosocial safety culture ( for owners and proprietors of aged care facilities) 2) Training and guidance in team leadership dynamics (shift supervisory staff) 3) Training and guidance in Stress resilience development (Other workers). Training will occur on at least three occassions per facility over 6 months. Follow up observation for 6 months. Assessment of overt change in (objective) data of sickness absence, injury claims, return to work times, agency replacement staff costs will be provided by each participating facility and/or their WorkCover insurer (Employers Mutual Insurance (SA) for 2 years prior to the study commencement and at the study end. Further assessment of self-report of psychological and emotional health will be made comparing baseline report at commencement of study, at 6 months and then 12 months
Sponsors
Aged Care Association of Australia (SA)
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Factorial
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Workers currently working in participating aged care facilities
Exclusion criteria
No exclusion criteria
Outcome results
None listed