Participation of Danish and immigrant cleaners in a 1-year worksite intervention preventing physical deterioration

• Published in: Ergonomics 2012-02, Vol.55 (2), p.256-264
• Main Authors: Rasmussen, Charlotte D.N., Jørgensen, Marie B., Carneiro, Isabella G., Flyvholm, Mari-Ann, Olesen, Kasper, Søgaard, Karen, Holtermann, Andreas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Denmark; Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology; Emigrants and Immigrants - statistics & numerical data; Ergonomics; ethnicity; Exercise Movement Techniques - methods; Female; females; Health Behavior - ethnology; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Household Work; Humans; Janitors; Male; Middle Aged; Migrant workers; musculoskeletal disorders; Occupational Diseases - prevention & control; Occupational health; Occupational Health - ethnology; Occupational Health - statistics & numerical data; Occupational Injuries - prevention & control; Research Subjects - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; workplace intervention; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0014-0139; 1366-5847
• DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2011.592651

Worksite health promotion is seldom offered to workers who are low-educated and multi-ethnic, possibly due to an assumption that they are more reluctant to participate. Furthermore, little has been done to promote health at female-dominated workplaces. The main aim of this study was to investigate differences in participation among immigrant and Danish cleaners throughout a 1-year randomised controlled study tailored to cleaners and carried out in predominantly female workplaces. No significant differences in ethnicity were found in consent and participation throughout the 1-year intervention. Dropout was equally distributed among Danish and immigrant cleaners. This study indicates that a worksite health promotion intervention among a female-dominated, high-risk occupation such as cleaning can be equally appealing for Danes and immigrants. Practitioner Summary: This study provides insight about participation of Danish and immigrant cleaners in a worksite health promotion intervention in a predominantly female occupation. For attaining high participation and low dropout in future worksite health promotion interventions among cleaners, the intervention ought to not only target the ethnic background of the workers, but also to be specifically tailored to the job group.