The impact of work-related musculoskeletal disorders on workers' caregiving activities.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the study was to describe and quantify the impact of work-related musculoskeletal disorders on workers' caregiving activities.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in which a telephone survey was administered to 187 lost-time workers' compensation claimants from Ontario, of whom 49.2% were women. Forty-eight percent of the injured workers were providing unpaid care prior to the injury.


RESULTS
Injured workers providing caregiving reported an average reduction in time spent in caregiving activities of 5.5 hr/week, 8 months post-injury. A Sex X Return-to-work status ANCOVA was conducted with difference in caregiving hours as the dependent variable, and with the following covariates: Mean number of caregiving hours, comorbidities, site of injury, and education. Independent of weekly hours of caregiving, decreases in caregiving hours were significantly higher if the worker was a woman or had not returned to work.


CONCLUSIONS
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders have a significant impact on workers' time spent in unpaid caregiving activities, an example of the social consequences of occupational injuries. Occupational and caregiving roles are limited by work-related disorders in a parallel fashion.
Franche
Renée-Louise
RL
Institute for Work & Health and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. rfranche@iwh.on.ca
Pole
Jason D
JD
Hogg-Johnson
Sheilah
S
Vidmar
Marjan
M
Breslin
Curtis
C
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009864:Ontario; D012380:Role; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D014942:Workers' Compensation