Associations between workers' health, and non-standard hours and insecurity: the case of home care workers in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This article examines associations between home care workers' health, and non-standard hours and insecurity. Health refers to symptoms of stress and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), non-standard hours refer to part-time and casual hours, and insecurity refers to job and employability insecurity. Data come from our 2002 survey of 532 home care workers (nurses, therapists and personal support workers) in a medium-sized city in Ontario, Canada. Path analysis regression results for the conceptual model show that (1) part-time and casual hours and job insecurity are positively and significantly associated with symptoms of stress, (2) the associations between part-time and casual hours and MSDs are mediated by symptoms of stress, and (3) job and employability insecurity are directly associated with MSDs. Results provide evidence that non-standard hours and insecurity must be addressed in order to improve home care workers' health. We show the detrimental effects of non-standard hours and insecurity on workers' health, and the results have implications for employers, human resource managers, trade unionists and government policy-makers.

Keywords::

• employability insecurity
• home care
• job insecurity
• musculoskeletal disorders
• non-standard hours
• symptoms of stress

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Sharon Davies, M. Bianca Seaton and Linda Boos for their research assistance at various stages of data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Permanency or non-permanency of the employment contract is not included in this study because responses were not reliable.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by operating grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [#RCI-0965-06] and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario [RAC #00011], and research staff funding from the Program for Research on Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population (SEDAP II) supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.