Computer-based training (CBT) intervention reduces workplace violence and harassment for homecare workers

BACKGROUND

The study examines the effectiveness of a workplace violence and harassment prevention and response program with female homecare workers in a consumer driven model of care.

METHODS

Homecare workers were randomized to either; computer based training (CBT only) or computer-based training with homecare worker peer facilitation (CBT + peer). Participants completed measures on confidence, incidents of violence, and harassment, health and work outcomes at baseline, 3, 6 months post-baseline.

RESULTS

Homecare workers reported improved confidence to prevent and respond to workplace violence and harassment and a reduction in incidents of workplace violence and harassment in both groups at 6-month follow-up. A decrease in negative health and work outcomes associated with violence and harassment were not reported in the groups.

CONCLUSION

CBT alone or with trained peer facilitation with homecare workers can increase confidence and reduce incidents of workplace violence and harassment in a consumer-driven model of care.

Hänninen lecture: Problems and prevention: Research in developing countries and immigrant populations from developing countries

The tradition of this excellent Triennial International Symposium, now in its Ninth gathering, has focused first on methods and later on effects in neurotoxicology. I respectfully suggest that it is time to add prevention to our agenda in order to focus not just on finding problems, but also on solving them. Otherwise our research runs the risk of making conditions worse for the participants because we inform them they have a problem but do not show them how to prevent that problem. Many barriers have been surmounted since the early days of this Symposium. Methods developed in industrialized nations have been modified and used in populations with limited education. Now, the primary barriers to effective collaborations are institutional. Perhaps the most challenging are companies that can bar a research study, or may welcome the opportunity to safeguard their workforce. A focus on prevention can increase the willingness of institutions, including companies, to accept and support research that examines neurotoxic effects of chemical exposures. This is because we are offering positive value, not simply uncovering a problem for them to fix. The cTRAIN software program is an illustration of a computer-based training method developed by neurotoxicologists that has been implemented in a variety of populations. This includes those from a developing country with limited education and those with college degrees. Training can provide prevention, can easily be appended to any neurotoxicology research study and is well within the skill set of the neurotoxicology community of scientists.