P-254 the Burden of High Workload and the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Health-Related Quality of Life Among Home Care Workers in Sweden

Background A poorer health-related quality of life has been shown due to high workload among home care workers. The pandemic created challenging working conditions for all healthcare workers. The aim of this study is to examine the burden of perceived workload on health-related quality of life among home care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods Two cross-sectional studies were conducted in three Swedish regions among home care workers, 1,154 (56%) participated in 2017 (before the pandemic) and 630 (31%) participated in 2021 (during the pandemic). Workload was measured by QPSnordic. Health-related quality of life was measured by EQ-5D, from which responses were translated into quality-adjusted life year scores (QALY). Propensity scores were used with absolute risk differences. Surveys were compared using Analysis of Variance. Results Thirty-one percent of the home care workers expressed high workload in 2021, a non-significant increase compared to 2017 (28%). Home care workers with high workload had a statistically significant 0.065 lower QALY, confidence interval -0.108 - -0.025, and 21%, confidence interval 0.121-0.299, more reported problems with anxiety/depression dimension than personnel with normal workload during the pandemic. There was statistically significantly lower QALY (0.79 vs. 0.82) and more reported problems on the anxiety/depression dimension (37% vs. 28%) in the pandemic compared to the post-pandemic cohort. Discussion Our study shows that the pandemic increased problems with health-related quality of life due to high workload among home care workers. Conclusion Swedish home care already had a strained organization before the pandemic. A strengthened organization is needed for better well-being among the personnel.