TAI CHI FOR OLDER NURSES: A WORKSITE HEALTH PROMOTION TRIAL

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. There is an earnest call from the nursing workforce community for implementing effective and easily replicable interventions to improve health and wellbeing, reduce risks of musculoskeletal injuries, and reduce work limitations of the older nurse workforce. Tai Chi has been studied as an intervention to promote physical and mental health, and to prevent falls in the elderly (65 years and older) population. The widely documented positive effects of Tai Chi in the elderly population encourage us to believe that Tai Chi may be an effective intervention for the older nurses (age 40+) in terms of promoting their mental and physical health, reducing the risks for work-related injuries, and improving their work productivity. Thus, this project proposes to test a weekly Tai Chi intervention in a randomized controlled study with older nurses. This proposed work is among the first to investigate the health and work benefits of Tai Chi exercise among aging nurses who are susceptible to intense work-related stress and musculoskeletal injuries. The specific aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Tai Chi exercises compared to no Tai Chi exercises on health and wellbeing, risks of musculoskeletal injuries, and work limitations in older nurses aged 40 years and above in a hospital setting. Older nurses will be randomly assigned to either one of the two exercise protocols: 1) the Tai Chi exercise protocol during which they will participate once a week a Tai Chi class, and practice Tai Chi on their own four times a week, for a total of 15 weeks; or 2) no Tai Chi exercises for the first 15 weeks (control) and Tai Chi exercises from weeks 16 to 30 (delayed intervention) with the same exercise protocol as in group 1. Outcome measures for both groups will be tested at baseline, 15 weeks, and 30 weeks. Regarding cost effectiveness of the intervention, work absenteeism will be measured as unscheduled Combined Time Off (CTO) and total hours absent over the year prior to the intervention, then over the test period, and post intervention/control. Work related injury over the test period will be measured by workers compensation claims, short term disability reports, and self-reported limitations.