Top

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Published in:

01-08-2013 | Original Article

Emotional demands and the risks of depression among homecare workers in the USA

Authors: Il-Ho Kim, Samuel Noh, Carles Muntaner

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 6/2013

Abstract

Purpose

Homecare workers’ diversity of emotional demands and their relation to mental health problems have not yet been fully explored. The purpose of this study is to investigate the types of emotional demands on homecare workers and the association of these demands with depression.

Method

Data were collected from two surveys of a random sample of 1,599 homecare workers (June 2003–September 2003 and December 2003–February 2004). Depression was assessed using a 20-item RCES-D screening scale.

Results

Homecare workers appeared to have a variety of emotional demands: unfair treatment, client’s family abuse, unmet care needs, client health, and emotional suppression. In general, homecare workers were more likely to be exposed to their client health and emotional suppression (mean scores = 1.46–3.07) than to be exposed to unmet care needs, unfair treatment, and client’s family abuse (mean scores = 1.02–1.38). After adjusting for potential confounders, four emotional-demand factors (excluding the client health factor) were significantly associated with a high risk of subthreshold depression at Wave 1. In particular, the factor “unmet care needs” was an essential predictor of 6-month subthreshold depression at Wave 2.

Conclusion

This study illustrated the diversity of emotional demands among homecare workers and their association with depression. Our mixed findings regarding the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses suggested that further research should refine the measurement of emotional demands and their relationship with mental health among homecare workers.

Aderson NR (2008) Safe in the city. Home Healthc Nurse 26(9):534–540CrossRef

Bakker AB, Demerouti E (2007) The job demands-resources model: state of the art. J Manag Psychol 22(3):309–328CrossRef

Bonde JP (2008) Psychosocial factors at work and risk of depression: a systematic review of the epidemiological evidence. Occup Environ Med 65(7):438–445CrossRef

Christiansen RH, Nielsen HO (2007) Survey highlights rise in psychosocial demands at work. Trends in working conditions 2000–2005. European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions, Dublin

Cousineau MR (2000) Providing health insurance to IHSS providers (home care workers) in Los Angeles County. California HealthCare Foundation, Los Angeles

Covinsky KE, Newcomer R, Fox P, Wood J, Sands L, Dane K, Yaffe K (2003) Patient and caregiver characteristics associated with depression in caregivers of patients with dementia. J Gen Intern Med 18(12):1006–1014CrossRef

Denton M, Zeytinoglu IU, Davies S (2003) Organizational change and the health and well being of home care workers. In: Denton M (ed) Social and economic dimensions of an aging population research papers. McMaster Univeristy Soical Sciences, Hamilton

Denton MA, Zeytinoglu IU, Davies S, Hunter D (2006) The impact of implementing managed competition on homecare workers’ turnover decisions. Healthc Policy 4:106–123

Eaton WW (2001) Center for epidemiologic studies depression scale-revised (CESD-R). In: VandeCRek L, Jackson TL (eds) Innovations in clinical practice. Professional Pesource Exchange, Sarasota, pp 295–297

Eaton WW, Muntaner C, Smith C, Tien A (1999) The revised center for epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (RCES-D). In: Maruish ME (ed) The use of psychological assessment for treatment planning and outcome assessment. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp 363–378

Ebenstein H (1998) They were once like us: learning from homecare workers who care for the elderly. J Gerontol Soc Work 30(3/4):191–201

Eustis N, Kane R, Fischer L (1993) Home care quality and the home care worker: beyond quality assurance as usual. Gerontol 33(1):64–73CrossRef

Findorff MJ, McGovern PM, Wall M, Gerberich SG, Alexander B (2004) Risk factors for work related violence in a health care organization. Inj Prev 10(5):296–302CrossRef

Fitzwater ED, Gates DE (2000) Violence and home care: a focus group study. Home Healthc Nurse 18(9):596–605CrossRef

Fleming G, Taylor BJ (2007) Battle on the home care front: perceptions of home care workers of factors influencing staff retention in Northern Ireland. Health Soc Care Comm 15(1):67–76

Frith H, Kitzinger C (1998) Emotion work’ as a participant resource: a feminist analysis of young women’s talk-in-interaction. Sociology 32(2):299–320CrossRef

Grandey A (2000) Emotional regulation in the workplace: a new way to conceptualize emotional labour. J Occup Health Psychol 5:95–110CrossRef

Gross JJ (2001) Emotion regulation in adulthood: timing is everything. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 10:214–219CrossRef

Hayashi R, Gibson JW, Weatherley RA (1994) Working conditions in home care: a survey of Washington state’s home care workers. Home HealthC Serv Q 14(4):37–48CrossRef

Hochschild AR (1983) The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. University of California Press, Berkley

Kadushin G, Egan M (2006) Unmet patient need in home care under managed care. J Gerontol Soc Work 47(3–4):103–120CrossRef

Kendler KS, Karkowski LM, Prescott CA (1999) Causal relationship between stressful life events and the onset of major depression. Am J Psychiatry 156(6):837–841

Kesselring A, Krulik T, Bichsel M, Minder C, Beck J, Stuck A (2001) Emotional and physical demands on caregivers in home care to the elderly in Switzerland and their relationship to nursing home admission. Eur J Public Health 11(3):267–273CrossRef

Kessler RC (1998) The effects of stressful life events on depression. Annu Rev Psychol 48:191–214CrossRef

Kim IH, Geiger-Brown J, Trinkoff A, Muntaner C (2010) Physically demanding workloads and risks of musculoskeletal disorders in homecare workers in the USA. Health Soc Care Comm 18(5):445–455CrossRef

Kruml S, Geddes D (2000) Exploring the dimensions of emotional labor: the heart of Hochschild’s work. Manage Commun Q 14(1):8–49CrossRef

Lewig KA, Dollard MF (2003) Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centre workers. Eur J Work Organ Psychol 12(4):366–392CrossRef

Miller K, Birkholt M, Scott C, Stage C (1995) Empathy and burnout in human service work: an extension of a communication model. Commun Res 22:123–147CrossRef

Montgomery AJ, Panagopolou E, Benos A (2005) Emotional labour at work and at home among Greek health-care professionals. J Health Organ Manage 19:395–408CrossRef

Muntaner C, Li Y, Xue X, Thompson T, Chung H, O’Campo P (2006) County and organizational predictors of depression symptoms among low-income nursing assistants in the USA. Soc Sci Med 63(6):1454–1465CrossRef

Muthén B, Kaplan D (1985) A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of non-normal Likert variables. Brit J Math Stat Psy 38(2):171–189CrossRef

Naring G, van Droffelaar A (2007) Incorporation of emotional labor in the Demand-Control-Support Model: the relation with emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment in Nurses In: Charmine EJ, Hatel W, Ashkanasy NM, Zerbe WJ (eds), Functionality, intentionality and morality. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp 221–236

Netterstrøm B, Conrad N, Bech P, Fink P, Olsen O, Rugulies R (2008) The relation between work-related psychosocial factors and the development of depression. Epidemiol Rev 30(1):118–132CrossRef

Olsson E, Ingvad B (2001) The emotional climate of care-giving in home-care services. Health Soc Care Comm 9(6):454–463CrossRef

Rae HM (1998) Managing feelings: caregiving as emotion work. Res Aging 20(1):137–160CrossRef

Schermelleh-Engel K, Moosbrugger H, Muller H (2003) Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measure. Meth Psycho Res Online 8(2):23–74

Söderfeldt B, Söderfeldt M, Jones K, O’Campo P, Muntaner C, Ohlson CG, warg LE (1997) Does organization matter? A multilevel analysis of the demand-control model applied to human services. Soc Sci Med 44(4):527–534CrossRef

Steinberg RJ, Figart DM (1999) Emotional demands at work: a job content analysis. Annals 561:177–191CrossRef

Suhr D (2003) Reliability, exploratory & confirmatory factor analysis for the scale of athletic priorities. In :Proceedings of the Twenty-eight Annual SAS Conference (SUGI 28), pp 274–28

Tepper K, Hoyle RH (1996) Latent variable models of need for uniqueness. Multivar Behav Res 31(4):467–494CrossRef

van Daalen G, Willemsen TM, Sanders K, van Veldhoven MJPM (2009) Emotional exhaustion and mental health problems among employees doing “people work”: the impact of job demands, job resources and family-to-work conflict. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 82:291–303CrossRef

van Vegchel N, de Jonge J, Söderfeldt M, Dormann C, Schaufeli W (2004) Quantitative versus emotional demands among Swedish human service employees: moderating effects of job control and social support. Int J Stress Manage 11(1):21–40CrossRef

Wieclaw J, Agerbo E, Mortensen P, Burr H, Tuchsen F, Bonde J (2008) Psychosocial working conditions and the risk of depression and anxiety disorders in the Danish workforce. BMC Public Health 8(1):280. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-280 CrossRef

Williams J, Lyons B, Rowland D (1997) Unmet long-term care needs of elderly people in the community: a review of the literature. Home HealthC Serv Q 16(2):93–119CrossRef

Zapf D (2002) Emotion work and psychological well-being: a review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Hum Resour Manage R 12:237–268CrossRef

Zapf D, Vogt C, Seifert C, Mertini H, Isic A (1999) Emotion work as a source of stress. The concept and development of an instrument. Eur J Work Organ Psychol 8(3):371–400

Title: Emotional demands and the risks of depression among homecare workers in the USA
Authors: Il-Ho Kim
Samuel Noh
Carles Muntaner
Publication date: 01-08-2013
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 6/2013
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-012-0789-x

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

Emotional demands and the risks of depression among homecare workers in the USA

Abstract

Purpose

Method

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Purpose

Method

Results

Conclusion

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 6/2013

Perceived physical exertion during healthcare work and risk of chronic pain in different body regions: prospective cohort study

Can observations of workplace bullying really make you depressed? A response to Emdad et al.

Lung function predicts mortality: 10-year follow-up after lung cancer screening among asbestos-exposed workers

The psychosocial work environment and mental health of teachers: a comparative study between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

The role of lifestyle, health, and work in educational inequalities in sick leave and productivity loss at work

Advantages of the JobReha discharge letter: an instrument for improving the communication interface in occupational rehabilitation