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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jennifer Gray-Stanley, MA, School of Public Health; Institute for Health Research & Policy, Center for Research on Health & Aging, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 W. Roosevelt Rd., Rm. 381, Chicago, IL 60608, 312-996-0865, jegray@uic.edu and Naoko Muramatsu, PhD, Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1630 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612.

Work stress can prevent direct care workers serving adults aging with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) from assuming critical roles for their clients' health, both as caregivers and key role models. Though research about such direct care workers is rapidly growing, it lacks in theory. Moreover, the research is deficient in information on and evaluation of individual and organizational stress reduction programming. To address this research gap, we propose a conceptual model based on life stress literature and Ensel and Lin's life stress models (1991; 2004). The proposed model provides a framework to examine how individuals cope with negative environmental stressors. It is hypothesized that psychosocial resources (locus of control, work social support) and health promoting behaviors moderate work stressors, resulting in improved mental health status and organizational commitment. This theoretical model is particularly important for examining 1) the stress process at the individual level, as a precursor for developing more complex models at the individual and organizational levels, and 2) the impact of health promoting behaviors on outcomes. Conceptualization and measurement of the model concepts, as well as our plan for testing this model using a sample of direct care workers will be presented. Empirical research guided by the proposed model will help identify those direct care workers at risk of work stress and develop effective and specialized organizational policies and interventions to assist with staff and client health and well-being.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Identify key work-related stressors that direct care workers serving adults with ID/DD experience, and resources they use to manage the stress.
• 2)Recognize the utility of a stress process model to understand the relationships among stress-coping variables.
• 3)Predict relationships among variables with the proposed model by using personal or hypothetical work scenarios.

Keywords: Workplace Stressors, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered