Family Relationship, Occupational Training and Emotional Distress among California PAS Workers

Background: Personal Assistance Services (PAS) workers provide support for activities of daily living (ADLs) among aged and disabled individuals residing in communities. Study Purpose: To determine the prevalence and correlates of receiving occupational training among PAS homecare providers, and the association between receiving training and work-related health outcomes. Methods: A telephone survey was conducted among a stratified probability sample (N=855) of California PAS workers. Results: 20% of the sample was African American, 28% Caucasian, 34% Latino and 15% Asian. The mean age was 50. 55% of PAS providers were relatives of their primary client, 45% were non-relatives. Overall 23% had received formal training for performing PAS homecare work. 26% reported occupationally related muscular-skeletal disorders (MSD). Non-relative providers (30%) were almost twice as likely as relative-providers (17%) to have received formal training. In multivariate models, receiving formal PAS worker training was associated with gender and age and family membership. Trained relative providers were more also more likely to report work-related emotional distress. Conclusions: Family-member PAS homecare providers were significantly less likely to have received formal training in PAS work as compared to non-family providers. The relationship between training and reporting emotional distress suggests that PAS providers seek formal training for assistance with reducing and managing symptoms. Interventions are needed to improve training among all sectors of PAS providers. Additional research is needed to clarify the relationship between receiving training and health outcomes among these providers.