Kathleen C. Brown

Determinants of employee participation in physical activity: critical review of the literature

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of research literature related to factors that influence employee participation in physical activity. Eleven published studies investigating physical activity in samples of adult employees were included in this review. Across these studies, self-efficacy, or belief in personal ability to perform this health behavior, was the best predictor of physical activity among employees. Perceived benefits of physical activity and perceived health status were also found to influence participation in physical activity. Occupational health nurses could offer self-care classes and intervention programs that assist employees in improving their perceptions of self-efficacy to perform physical activity. Additionally, occupational health nurses should continue to reinforce the benefits of physical activity in all health promotion venues.

A flexibility intervention to reduce the incidence and severity of joint injuries among municipal firefighters.

The present study of 469 municipal firefighters examined the effect of flexibility training on the incidence and severity of joint injuries. Both flexibility measures and costs (lost time and medical care costs) were investigated in this study. Significant differences were found in flexibility scores of the experimental and control subjects with overall flexibility increased in the experimental group. Although incidence of injury was not significantly different for the experimental and control groups, injuries sustained by the experimental group resulted in significantly less lost time costs. Findings indicate that the flexibility training program had a beneficial effect on reducing the severity and costs of joint injuries in this firefighter population.

Cost-effectiveness of a back school intervention for municipal employees

This study investigated the effect of a back school rehabilitation program on lost work time, lost time cost, medical cost, and number of injuries in municipal employees. Seventy back-injured workers who participated in a 6-week back school were compared on the dependent variables with 70 randomly selected back-injured city employees who had not participated in a back school. Back school participants demonstrated a significant decrease on all dependent variables. Back school participants had significantly fewer injuries in the 6-month postintervention period. No statistically significant differences were found between groups on the time and cost variables. Actual dollars saved in lost time and medical costs between groups was of practical value to the city. Study findings offer support for the back school as a cost-effective measure.

Sleep deprivation and error in nurses who work the night shift

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep deprivation and occupational and patient care errors among staff nurses who work the night shift. BACKGROUND: Whereas the aviation and trucking industries report that sleep deprivation increases errors, few studies have examined sleep deprivation association with occupational and patient care errors among nurses. METHODS: A cross-sectional correlational design was used to evaluate relationships between sleep deprivation and occupational and patient care errors in 289 hospital night shift nurses. RESULTS: More than half (56%) of the sample reported being sleep deprived. Sleep-deprived nurses made more patient care errors. Testing for associations with occupational errors was not feasible because of the low number of occupational errors reported. CONCLUSION: Interventions to increase the quality and quantity of sleep among hospital night shift nurses are needed. Improved sleep among night shift nurses will reduce the impact of sleep deprivation on patient care errors.

Effect of state workplace safety laws on occupational injury rates.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of four common types of mandatory state-level workplace safety regulations on injury severity rates during the period 1992 to 1997 for the manufacturing sector. The full Poisson regression model showed safety committee regulations to have a highly significant reducing effect on injury rates, &khgr;2 (1, n = 3286) = 10.1774, P = 0.0014. Safety program regulations were significant at the &agr; = 0.10 level, &khgr;2 (1, n = 3286) = 3.5676, P = 0.0589. The effect of insurance carrier loss control regulations in the full model was nonsignificant. However, insurance carrier loss control regulations were highly significant (&agr; = 0.01) in the final reduced model. Targeting initiatives were nonsignificant in both the full and reduced models (&agr; = 0.05). The study results are important to state and federal agencies considering adopting workplace safety regulations that are similar to the four types evaluated in this study.

Relationship of blood pressure self-monitoring, medication adherence, self-efficacy, stage of change, and blood pressure control among municipal workers with hypertension.

Uncontrolled blood pressure remains a major public health issue. Medication adherence is a key factor in blood pressure management; however, adherence behavior is not clearly understood and the most significant factors contributing to poor medication adherence and blood pressure control are unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of self-monitoring of blood pressure, medication adherence, self-efficacy, stage of change, and blood pressure control among municipal workers with access to health insurance. Stage of change was a significant independent predictor of self-monitoring of blood pressure, but not blood pressure control. A strong relationship was found between medication adherence and medication adherence self-efficacy (r = .549, p < .05).

Work Environment Stressors, Social Support, Anxiety, and Depression Among Secondary School Teachers

Work environment stress, a salient health and safety issue for secondary school teachers, school administrators, parents, and students, was examined in 168 teachers from two urban and five suburban high schools. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between ongoing and episodic stressors and anxiety and depression, as well as the extent to which anxiety and depression may be predicted by stressors and coworker and supervisor support. The Ongoing Stressor Scale (OSS) and the Episodic Stressor Scale (ESS), the Coworker and Supervisor Contents of Communication Scales (COCS), the State Anxiety inventory (S-Anxiety), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were used to measure the variables. Ongoing and episodic stressors were significantly and positively associated with anxiety and depression. Ongoing stressors and coworker support were significant in explaining anxiety and depression among secondary school teachers. Coworker support had an inverse relationship to anxiety and depression.

Sleep Deprivation and Psychomotor Performance Among Night-Shift Nurses

This study examined how sleep deprivation influenced psychomotor performance of nurses who worked the night shift. Psychomotor performance was measured with the d2 Test of Attention (Ackerman & Clark, 1998), which quantifies attention, concentration, processing speed, and quality of performance (Brickenkamp & Zillmer, 2003). A sample of 289 licensed nurses was tested with the instrument. Fifty-six percent of the sample was sleep deprived. Mean psychomotor performance scores (26.6 for men and 11.4 for women) were above the normative means (44.4 for men and 41.03 for women). A significant (p Language: en

Personal health-risk predictors of occupational injury among 3415 municipal employees.

Little information exists about the effectiveness of health-promotion programs in reducing occupational injury rates. A historical cohort study was conducted to examine the relationship between personal health-risk factors and risk of occupational injury. Workers were grouped on the basis of nonoccupational risk-taking behaviors, psychosocial risks, cardiovascular risk factors, and a total risk-factor variable. All analyses were controlled for sex, smoking status, age, and job classification. An increased risk of occupational injury (P < .0001) was found to be significantly associated with nonoccupational risk-taking behavior. This association may be the result of continued risk-taking behavior in the occupational environment, or assignment of risk-taking individuals to more hazardous job tasks. Psychosocial, cardiovascular, and total risk-factor variables were not associated with an increased risk of occupational injury.

Measurement of mammography rates for quality improvement

To determine the best source of high-quality data related to mammography rates, a study was undertaken to compare chart audit and claims data from the Health Care Financing Administrations Ambulatory Quality Improvement Project. Because claims data captured a higher percentage of mammograms than chart audit data in this study, quality improvement projects should consider utilizing claims data only to ascertain mammography rates.