LOHP’s Homecare Project is a community-based participatory research project conducted in partnership with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the Alameda County Public Authority for In-home Supportive Services, and the Service Employees United Long Term Care Workers Union. The project goals are to develop and evaluate interventions designed to improve the safety and health of homecare workers in Alameda County.
Project activities have included:
- focus groups with workers and recipients of homecare (consumers) to identify common hazards and possible solutions
- field testing of our project materials conducted by a team of homecare workers and consumers
- development of a handbook: “Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others: Practical Tips for Homecare Workers”
- a training workshop for homecare workers to help them use the handbook to improve their working conditions
Click below to download a copy of the booklet in English, Spanish or Chinese:
More Information about Homecare Workers
Homecare workers (HCWs) who provide housekeeping and routine personal care services to elderly, disabled, or ill individuals are one of the fast growing health care occupational groups. It is also one of the groups with the highest occupational injury rate. In 1997, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a special report on work-related injuries to HCWs showing an injury rate which was 50% higher than that of workers employed in the private hospital sector and 70% higher than the overall rate for all private industry workers. (Injuries to Caregivers Working in Patients' Homes. [1977]. In: Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 97-4, US Dept of Labor, BLS, Washington D.C. 20212 ) Excerpted from a NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report of a study of homecare workers in Alameda County. (HETA #2001-0139-2930)