142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

303001
Translating Research into Action: A Health Impact Assessment on the Massachusetts Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Allyson Auerbach, MPH , Research and Evaluation Department, Health Resources in Action, Inc., Boston, MA
Kathleen McCabe, MPA , Policy and Practice Department, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
Domestic workers conservatively number 20,000 in Massachusetts, and comprise 3 primary occupations – nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers. Despite their important role in the economy, domestic workers often face unseen and unregulated working and living conditions. These conditions affect not only domestic workers but also their families and the recipients of their care.  Tired, ill, and injured domestic workers cannot provide high quality care or services to their clients nor can they adequately meet the needs of their own families.

Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are a tool for promoting health in all policies and identifying populations disproportionately impacted by these policies. In January 2013, legislation was introduced in Massachusetts to establish a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which would amend state labor law to guarantee domestic workers basic work standards and protections. An HIA was conducted on the Bill of Rights in order to provide the best available information on the law’s potential health impacts on domestic workers, their families, and recipients of their services. The HIA used mixed methods to characterize the domestic worker population in Massachusetts as well as examine two key provisions of the bill – the right to a written contract and the right to privacy – and how these provisions could impact health.

This presentation will discuss the HIA process and results as applied to the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, and will highlight how HIA can be used as a tool to highlight vulnerable populations and translate public health research into healthier policy.

Learning Areas:

Occupational health and safety
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the health impact assessment process Describe how to quantify and characterize the domestic worker population Identify common occupational illnesses and injuries among the domestic worker population and how these are potentially impacted by the MA Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Describe recommendations for maximizing the positive health impacts and minimizing the negative health impacts of the MA Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights

Keyword(s): Labor, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a public health practitioner with over 7 years of experience in community health assessment and planning. I have taken a graduate course and participated in several trainings on HIA methodology. I am on the project team that implemented the HIA discussed in this presentation, and have been involved in implementation and training and technical assistance for five additional health impact assessments.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.