Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111324

Judith L. Wold, PhD, RN¹, Sherry K. Gaines, PhD, RN¹, Armenia Williams², Dee Baldwin, PhD, RN-C³, and Janie M. Leary, BSW¹. (1) Childcare Advantage Network, School of Nursing, Georgia State University, P. O. Box 4019, Atlanta, GA 30302-4019, 404-651-2050, jlwold@gsu.edu, (2) School of Nursing, Georgia State University, P. O. Box 4019, Atlanta, GA 30302-4019, (3) Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing, Georgia State University, P. O. Box 4019, Atlanta, GA 30302

The health of employees in child care is crucial to their ability to care for children as well as model healthy behaviors. However, little is known about the health and health risks of this group of employees. Known risks for child care staff range from increased exposure to communicable diseases to musculoskeletal injury to fatigue and stress. The Childcare Advantage Network, a HRSA funded project to train Child Care Health Consultants in Georgia, surveyed over 300 child care staff. Participants completed a health risk appraisal (HRA) designed to calculate health risks and propose suggestions to reduce risks in personal health, tobacco use, travel, alcohol use, women and men's health, emotional well being and willingness to make health changes. Although, the HRA does not detect actual illness, it is recognized as an accurate predictor of future health status and risk for disease and injury. Predictions, based on self-reported behaviors and measures assessed by the instrument, can serve to motivate behavior changes that lead to healthier lifestyles. This HRA has been used extensively in health promotion efforts because it generates a personal report for the participant's use in guiding them toward more positive health behaviors. Demographics and results of prevalent health risks of this population will be reported. Moreover, the researchers will present comparisons to existing research findings on health risks of employees in other small industries. Recommendations for health promotion and disease prevention for child care providers will be reported. Presenters will discuss implications for child care health consultants.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this presentation, participants should be able to

• Identify personal health risks of child care providers.
• Discuss how the health risks of child care providers compare to that of employees in other small industries.
• Name 3 health promotion/disease prevention efforts that can be taken with this population to improve health status.
• Describe the role of child care health consultants in promoting employee health in child care.

Keywords: Child Care, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.