Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
This presentation is part of : Nursing Workforce Issues
A Workplace Wellness Tai Chi Offering - A Description of the Older Nurse Participants
Mary Val Palumbo, DNP, APRN, Office of Nursing Workforce Research, Planning, and Development, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA, Ge Wu, PhD, Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA, Hollie Shaner-McCrae, RN, MSA, FAAN, Nursing Administration, Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, VT, USA, Barbara McIntosh, PhD, School of Business Administration, Universtiy of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA, and Betty Rambur, DNSc, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Describe the health, wellbeing, and work/general stress level of older nurses who chose to participate in workplace Tai Chi and discuss the implications.
Learning Objective #2: Describe the neck, shoulder and back pain, and work limitations of older nurses who chose to participate in workplace Tai Chi and discuss the implications.
Aim: Workplace wellness interventions are costly if they do not reach an employee target audience who would benefit.  As the workforce ages, acceptable interventions to improve employee productivity are sought.  This pilot project describes a small sample of older nurses who volunteered to participate in a 15 week Tai Chi offering in their workplace.
         
Methods: This descriptive study, using a convenience sample, tested on the following measures:
1. Health and wellbeing: SF-36, Nurse Stress Scale (NSS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS);
2. Work limitations: The Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ), Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) about Low Back, Shoulder, and Neck Pain.
3. Physical strength, balance, and flexibility: isokinetic force dynamometer, Sit and Reach Test and Functional Reach Test. 

Results: Fourteen female nurses, working in the hospital setting (mean age of 54.4 years, range: 49-63), participated. Over 70 nurses expressed interest. Seventy-five percent worked 32 hours+ and 25% reported no regular exercise program. Mean weight was 79kg. Low levels of work stress (25/102 on NSS) and general stress (PSS), coupled with high levels of general (83/100) and mental (80/100) wellbeing on the SF-36, were found. The vitality scale was lowest (64/100). The majority had experienced neck (81%), back (75%), and shoulder (63%) pain.  Compared to a healthy worker, the WLQ predicted a small decrease in productivity (2.76%).  Physical measures were correlated between SF-36 bodily pain index (mean 74/100) and flexibility (r= 0.64, p =0.01) and isometric leg strength (r = 0.58, p=0.03).

Conclusions:In this study, older nurses choosing to participate in a workplace wellness intervention aimed at stress reduction and improvement in physical wellbeing were found to have low baseline stress. Instead they needed the intervention to reduce pain, increase flexibility, strength, and vitality.  Further studies are needed to describe the longitudinal effects and cost effectiveness of Tai Chi interventions.

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