Associations of eldercare and competing demands with health and work outcomes among manufacturing workers

ABSTRACT

Employees juggling eldercare and work report work–family conflicts and poor health-related outcomes, but little is known about eldercare demands (ECDs) in the context of competing demands in the manufacturing workforce. This study determines how ECDs vary by age, gender, income, and job category, and how ECDs and competing demands are associated with health-related and work-related outcomes, among manufacturing workers. Employees from six manufacturing companies completed questionnaires. ECDs were defined as providing assistance to an adult aged 65 and older due to disability or chronic illness; those with ECDs were asked how many care-hours per week and whether assistance included personal care. Workers over age 45 were more likely than younger workers to report ECDs. After adjusting for competing demands and socio-demographic characteristics, ECDs were associated with greater depressive symptoms and family-to-work conflict (FWC), providing 5 or more hours of eldercare weekly was associated with greater depressive symptoms, and providing personal care was associated with greater FWC.

RESUMEN

Los empleados quienes tratan de mantener un equilibrio entre el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada y el trabajo reportaron conflictos entre el trabajo y vida familiar y también reportaron problemas relacionadas con la salud. Sin embargo poco se conoce acerca de las demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs) en el contexto de exigencias contrapuestas en la fuerza laboral de empresas manufactureras. Este estudio determina como las demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs) varía de acuerdo a edad, género, ingreso (sueldo), tipo de trabajo. Así como también, las demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs) y las exigencias contrapuestas están asociadas con problemas relacionados con la salud y el trabajo entre los empleados de manufacturas. Los empleados de seis diferentes empresas manufactureras completaron cuestionarios. Las demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs) fueron definidas como tales; proveyendoasistencia a un adulto mayor de 65 años y más deberse a eseabilidad o enfermedad crónica; los empleados con demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs) respondieron preguntas respecto a cuantas horas de cuidado dedicaron por semana y si la asistencia incluía cuidado personal. Comparado con los empleados jóvenes, los empleados de más de 45 años eran más propensos de reportar demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada (DCAs). Después de controlar por exigencias contrapuestas y características socio-demográficas, las demandas relacionadas con el cuidado de personas de edad avanzada fueron asociadas con alto índice de síntomas depresivos y conflictos de trabajo-vida familiar (CTF). Los empleados proveyendo 5 o más horas de cuidado al adulto mayor semanalmente fueron asociados con alto índice de síntomas depresivos. Por lo siguiente, los empleados proveyendo cuidado personal fueron asociados con alto reportaje de conflictos de trabajo-vida familiar (CTF).

KEYWORDS:

• Manufacturing workers
• eldercare
• conservation of resources
• depressive symptoms
• work stress
• family–work conflict

PALABRAS CLAVES:

• Los empleados de manufacturas
• cuidado al adulto mayor
• conservación de recursos
• síntomas depresivos
• el estrés laboral
• conflictos de trabajo-vida familiar

Acknowledgements

Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIOSH. Dana Farr and Alison Kleppinger provided data-related expertise in preparing this manuscript. Dr. Jennifer Cavallari provided helpful feedback and edits on the final version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Alicia Dugan, Ph.D., is an industrial-organizational psychologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at UConn Health. Dr Dugan’s research focuses on lifestyle practices that influence worker health as well as the contextual factors that affect these practices (i.e. work and family situations, time availability, and social support). Her goal is to help workers attain optimal well-being by using research to develop effective interventions and identify factors that determine the successful communication, uptake, and widespread use of evidence-based health interventions in real-world settings.

Richard Fortinsky, Ph.D., is Professor of Medicine in the Center on Aging at UConn Health. Dr. Fortinsky conducts clinical, behavioral science, and health services research with the major goal of improving health status and health care delivery systems for older adults and their families. His major areas of investigation are physician and family care for persons with dementia living at home, health-related outcomes and resource use among older adults receiving home health care, evidence-based community interventions to help prevent falls in the older population, and transportation alternatives for older adults who have stopped or curtailed driving.

Janet Barnes-Farrell, Ph.D., is Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Connecticut and an investigator in the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW). Dr Barnes-Farrell has been conducting research on issues related to our aging workforce for over thirty years. Her published work addresses topics ranging from age discrimination to retirement decision processes. Her current research centers on psychosocial aspects of work and aging and on the process and consequences of work–life balance for workers and organizations, with special emphasis on the work–life concerns of older workers.

Anne Kenny, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at UConn Health and has 20 years of experience in conducting clinical research with a focus on osteoporosis and physical performance. Her research portfolio includes multiple intervention studies of older frail individuals, including intervention trials using hormones, nutrition and exercise, and several epidemiologic trials focusing on physical performance and sarcopenia. She has been continuously funded by foundation and federal grants since 1993.

Julie Robison, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Center on Aging at UConn Health. She conducts evidence-based health services research focused on aging families and long-term services and supports. Currently, Dr Robison is evaluating multiple federally funded grants including the Connecticut Money Follows the Person Demonstration, the National Family Caregiver Support Program and the Testing Experience and Functional Tools grant. She has published over 50 scholarly articles and has conducted 55 funded research studies. She regularly presents her work in community and academic forums.

Nicolas Warren, ScD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UConn Health, Ergonomics Coordinator at the Ergonomic Technology Center of Connecticut, and faculty in the joint UConn Storrs/UCHC Occupational Health Psychology Program. His research focuses on health effects of job stress and participatory interventions targeting work organization. In multiple research projects, his work explores ways in which organizations can reduce work stress by improving the balance between work and non-work demands.

Martin Cherniack, MD, MPH is an occupational medicine physician and Professor of Medicine at UConn Health. He directs the Ergonomics Technology Center, and is co-Director of the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW). His research interests include work-related musculoskeletal disease and problems of the aging workforce.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [grant number 1 R01 OH OH008929 to M.G.C.].