Matthew Nonnenmann, PhD, CIH, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa
Consider how tired you are after spending a day with a toddler. Now multiply that experience with several children. Home-based child care workers likely experience occupational hazards including exposures risk factors for musculoskeletal problems, job strain, and the stress of managing the care of children while reassuring parents. However, little has been done to address the needs of these workers. A team of University of Iowa faculty led by Assistant Professor Matt Nonnenmann were awarded a pilot grant from the Healthier Workforce Center at the University of Iowa to identify common musculoskeletal problems and job strain that these workers experience. The long term goal of this project is to collect preliminary data for the development of a workplace intervention.
| Results & Dissemination |
Data collection is ongoing, however to date, the team has held one focus group and collected internet-based questionnaire data from 40 child care workers. Preliminary results suggest that 35% of these workers have experience an injury related to work, with the majority being a result of “overexertion and bodily reaction.” Of the body areas examined in the questionnaire, low-back pain was experience by 68% of respondents who reported an work-related injury with lifting items or children being the most common reported cause of the pain. Future research should consider interventions to reduce lifting activities associated with work in home based-child care.