Perceptions of health and risk management among home care workers in Sweden

BACKGROUND: Municipal home care workers provide high-quality services to an increasing proportion of elderly people living in private homes. The work environments and working conditions of these workers vary to a great extent, implying rapid priority-making among both employers and employees to ensure that the work can be performed in a safe way. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine home care workers’ perceptions of health, risks, working conditions, and risk management within their organization. METHOD: The study was based on cross-sectional data collected from home care service staff in a municipality in the north of Sweden. Nursing assistants and care aides (n = 133) replied to a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and between-group differences were analysed. RESULTS: Home care work was perceived to require high levels of professional skill and ingenuity, a good psychosocial work situation, but required a high physical workload. The general health, the capacity and self-efficacy of the staff in relation to work were good. Difficulty in performing risk assessments and following safety regulations due to lack of time, equipment, and information were identified. CONCLUSION: There is a need to increase participation in risk assessments among the staff, improve management support, structures, and cooperation with other divisions of the social services and the medical care organizations.