Work precarity, employment characteristics and health among Canada's long-term care and seniors' home workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Health Rep. 2024 Feb 21;35(2):3-16. doi: 10.25318/82-003-x202400200001-eng.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted several issues among health care workers in Canada's long-term care and seniors' (LTCS) homes, including labour shortages, staff retention difficulties, overcrowding, and precarious working conditions. There is currently a lack of information on the health, well-being and working conditions of health care workers in LTCS homes - many of them immigrants - and a limited understanding of the relationship between them. This paper examines differences between immigrant and non-immigrant workers' health outcomes and precarious working conditions during the pandemic.DATA AND METHODS: The data were from the 2021 Survey on Health Care Workers' Experiences During the Pandemic, which collected information on LTCS home health care workers' (n=2,051) health, employment or work experiences, and working environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Summary statistics and multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to examine the association between precarious work and workers' health (life stress, mental health and general health), stratified by immigrant status. Selected working characteristics were included in the regression models as covariates, namely occupation, number of locations worked, facility ownership status and number of years worked.RESULTS: Immigrant health care workers were more likely than non-immigrant health care workers to experience prec...
Source: Health Reports - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research