Can Work be Organized to Become More Health Promoting for Employees in Home Care Services?

NCT05487027 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 315556
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 131
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 11

Brief Summary

This is a two-group, cluster randomized controlled trial designed to assess a health promoting intervention in the home care sector. The intervention aims to evenly distribute the patients requiring high levels of demanding care across all workers on the units, which may lower the working strain and thus the incidence of musculoskeletal pain. The two groups in the study will be a control group and an intervention group. The intervention will last for approximately 4 months.

Conditions

Occupational Exposure; Musculoskeletal Pain; Work-related Injury; Low Back Pain; Shoulder Pain; Neck Pain

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Between group changes in musculoskeletal pain in the neck and shoulder from pre to post measurement

  The workers will rate their musculoskeletal pain in the neck and shoulder area after each working day for a week. The measurement will be repeated at the end of the intervention to assess any changes in the experience of musculoskeletal pain. The question assessing musculoskeletal pain in shoulder and neck area is phrased as "How much pain did you have in your shoulder/neck at the end of this working day?" (Translated from Norwegian).

  7 days during baseline measurements, 7 days during post measurements

• in musculoskeletal pain in the lower back from pre to post measurement

  The workers will rate their musculoskeletal pain in the lower back after each working day for one week. The measurement will be repeated at the end of the intervention to assess any changes in the experience of musculoskeletal pain. The question assessing musculoskeletal pain in the lower back area is phrased as "how much pain did you have in your lower back at the end of the working day?" (Translated from Norwegian).

  7 days during baseline measurements, 7 days during post measurements

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Between group changes in the composition of time spent standing, arms elevated and trunk inclined

  7 days during baseline measurements, 7 days during post measurements

• Between group changes in fatigue at end of shift

  7 days during baseline measurements, 7 days during post measurements

Study Arms (2)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

This arm will have no intervention or instructions from researchers. Participants in this arm will perform their work planning as normal.

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Introduce a deliberate variation between workers in how much they care for physically strenuous users. Some workers may receive more strenuous work compared to before, some less.

Behavioral: Goldilocks work principle

Interventions

Goldilocks work principle BEHAVIORAL

Using the Goldilocks work principle we have tried to find the "just right" distribution of physical strain in the home care sector. This is an intervention to test if it possible to distribute the physical strain experienced in the home care sector in a way that may be more health promoting for the workers.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Home care worker in one of the included home care units in Trondheim municipality.
• More than or equal to 50% working position at the home care unit.

You may not qualify if:

• Physically incapable of performing day to day tasks.
• Any illness during the measurement week
• Pregnancy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Norwegian University of Science and Technology: lead
• Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration: collaborator
• Trondheim Kommune: collaborator

Study Sites (11)

Bergheim hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Heimdal Hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Klæbu hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Lade hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Nidarvoll hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Nidelven hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Saupstad hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Spongdal hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Strinda Hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Strindheim hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Valentinlyst hjemmetjeneste

Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Lohne FK, Fimland MS, Palarea-Albaladejo J, Mathiassen SE, Holtermann A, Redzovic S. Can home care work be organized to promote musculoskeletal health for workers? Results from the GoldiCare cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Jan 7;25(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-12133-2.

  PMID: 39773460 DERIVED

• Lohne FK, Fimland MS, Holtermann A, Mathiassen SE, Fischer H, Gellein TM, Redzovic S. Can home care work be organized to promote musculoskeletal health for workers? Study protocol for the Norwegian GoldiCare cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Dec 7;22(1):1490. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08916-0.

  PMID: 36476502 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Musculoskeletal Pain; Low Back Pain; Shoulder Pain; Neck Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Muscular Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Back Pain; Arthralgia; Joint Diseases

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: No masking will be possible as the home care units will have an integral part in applying the intervention. The investigators will need to have control over the units in intervention arm as they may need to assist in the early stages of intervention.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Individuals are grouped in clusters, where the clusters are the home care units in Trondheim. Half of the units will be randomized to control, half will be randomized to intervention. All units will be randomized at the same time.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 3, 2022
• First Posted: August 4, 2022
• Study Start: August 22, 2022
• Primary Completion: May 15, 2023
• Study Completion: May 15, 2023
• Last Updated: June 6, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NO (11)