Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #102659

Kathleen M. McPhaul, RN, MPH¹, Joseph Zanoni, MILR², Myra Glassman³, Jane Lipscomb, RN, PhD⁴, Leslie Nickels, MEd⁵, Leonila Vega⁶, Jeffrey Johnson, PhD⁷, Rosemary Sokas, MD, MOH⁸, Karen Kauffman, PhD, RN⁷, and Vamsi Vasireddy, MBBS, MPH⁹. (1) School of Nursing, University of Maryland, 655 Lombard Street, Room 665, Baltimore, MD 21201, 4107064907, mcphaul@son.umaryland.edu, (2) School of Public Health Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Education and Research Center, University of Illinois, 2121 W. Taylor Street, MC 922, Chicago, IL 60612, (3) Local 880, Service Employees International Union, 650 S. Clark Street, Second Floor, Chicago, IL 60605, (4) Department of Behavioral and Community Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Nursing, 655 W. Lombard St, Baltimore, MD 21201, (5) School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, SPH, 2121 W Taylor, Chicago, IL 60612, (6) Local 150, Service Employees International Union, 148 E. Wilson Street, Madison, WI 53703, (7) School of Nursing, University of Maryland Baltimore, 655 Lombard Street, Room 665, Baltimore, MD 21201, (8) EOHS - M/C 922, University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, (9) Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, UIC School of Public Health, 2121 W. Taylor Street, MC 922, Chicago, IL 60612

Exposure to blood and body fluids, most often through the use of conventional unsafe needles, is a life threatening risk for healthcare workers, with 600,000 to 800,000 such injuries estimated annually. Little is known about the risk facing the 670,000 workers employed by about 20,000 home care agencies serving more than 7 million individuals each year in addition to the many who are self-employed or in some type of informal work arrangement. A NIOSH funded collaborative research project that includes union and university-based partners seeks to increase understanding of the risk of exposure to blood among these workers, initially using focus groups to assess the relationship between organization of work (OOW) factors, blood exposure, and use of available hazard controls in home care workplaces. Six focus groups organized by Local 880 and Local 150, SEIU, were directed, recorded and transcribed according to an IRB-approved protocol. Investigators outlined a protocol for review of the focus group transcripts and to conceptualize the themes and priorities. Because participants in the initial two sessions consistently interpreted open-ended safety and health questions from their clients' perspectives, the protocol was modified to emphasize worker needs in the context of providing care. Altruism and interpersonal relationships help workers cope with frequently encountered physical, biomechanical, biologic and emotional stressors. Findings and implications of the focus groups will be used to implement a union-based participatory primary prevention intervention for the reduction of blood exposure among home care workers.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the union-researcher partnership,
• define the context of work and exposure to blood,
• explain the process of developing and conducting the focus groups,
• describe the process of reviewing and interpreting the focus group data and
• list findings and implications for workplace intervention.

Keywords: Health Care Workers, Primary Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation