An Occupational Health Literacy Intervention in Nursing Homes Improved Organizational Health Literacy—A Quasi-Experimental Stepped Wedge Cluster Trial

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effectiveness of a workplace health literacy intervention on individual, interpersonal, and organizational health literacy. METHOD: Using a quasi-experimental stepped wedge cluster design, we evaluated an intervention for 509 nursing home employees with two elements: 1) courses for employees and management on pain prevention, management, and communication and 2) structured dialogues between employees and supervisors, emphasizing pain prevention. RESULTS: One organizational health literacy item improved, with supervisors helping with pain prevention increasing by 0.42 points (95% CI 0.11;0.73). Positive trends were observed in supervisor actions when informed about pain (0.39 points, 95% CI -0.09;0.86), ease of finding workplace pain solutions (0.12 points, 95% CI -0.03;0.79), and employees having pain management information (0.44 points, 95% CI -0.03;0.92). CONCLUSION: The intervention improved one organizational health literacy item, with positive trends in three other items.