Predicting COVID-19 Cases in Nursing Homes of California and Ohio: Does the Work Environment Matter?

Soumyadipta Roy; Jamie E Collins; Leslie I Boden; Jeffrey N Katz; Gregory R Wagner; Glorian Sorensen; Jessica A R Williams

doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000003181

Predicting COVID-19 Cases in Nursing Homes of California and Ohio: Does the Work Environment Matter?

J Occup Environ Med. 2024 Jul 2. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003181. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Soumyadipta Roy¹, Jamie E Collins², Leslie I Boden³, Jeffrey N Katz, Gregory R Wagner⁴, Glorian Sorensen⁵, Jessica A R Williams¹

Affiliations

¹ Health Policy and Administration, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
² Orthopedic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

PMID: 38955810
DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003181

Abstract

Objective: The cross-sectional study evaluates if the pre-pandemic work environments in nursing homes predict COVID-19 cases among residents and staff, accounting for other factors.

Method: Leveraging data from a survey of California and Ohio nursing homes (n = 340), we examined if Workplace Integrated Safety and Health domains - Leadership, Participation, and Comprehensive and Collaborative strategies predicted cumulative COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents and staff.

Results: In Ohio, a 1-unit increase in Leadership score was associated with 2 fewer staff cases and 4 fewer resident cases. A 1-unit increase in Comprehensive and Collaborative Strategies score in California showed an average marginal effect of approximately 1 less staff case and 2 fewer resident cases.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that leadership commitment and inter-department collaboration to prioritize worker safety, may have protected against COVID-19 cases in nursing homes.