Implementing the Goldilocks Work principle among home health care workers organized in self-governing teams: A feasibility study
Work-related physical and psychosocial health challenges among home health care (HHC) workers.
The intervention is delivered at the team level (teams are divided into subgroups, each comprising approximately 12 workers) and aims to strengthen workers’ physical, mental, and social well-being by supporting a “just right” distribution of physical, mental, and social aspects of work tasks, using a newly developed dialogue tool (the Goldilocks Work dialogue tool). The purpose of the Goldilocks Work dialogue tool is to facilitate dialogue on HHC workers’ distribution and performance of physical work tasks (i.e. sedentary tasks, physically active tasks, and shifts between sedentary and physically active tasks), mental work tasks (i.e. mentally demanding tasks, mentally less demanding tasks, and shifts between mentally demanding and mentally less demanding tasks), and social work tasks (i.e. tasks performed alone, tasks performed together with colleagues, and shifts between working alone and together with colleagues). Based on this dialogue, the teams identify opportunities to redistribute or perform work tasks differently to move towards a more “just right” balance of the physical, mental, and social aspects of work tasks, in order to promote HHC workers’ health. The intervention is initiated with a baseline questionnaire, followed by two workshops (Workshop 1 and Workshop 2). In Workshop 1, workers are introduced to the Goldilocks Work principle and the Goldilocks Work dialogue tool. In Workshop 2, workers, in their subgroups, collaboratively develop action plans specifying when and how the Goldilocks Work dialogue tool will be integrated into their daily work practices. During the subsequent eight-week period, the intervention teams integrate the Goldilocks Work dialogue tool into their daily work practices in accordance with the action plans developed in Workshop 2. The intervention concludes with a follow-up questionnaire and qualitative interviews with selected workers.
Team level: 1. Self-reported to be organized as self-governing teams 2. Teams comprising at least two subgroups Individual level: All employees within eligible teams working day shifts
Workers exclusively working night shifts.