11/24/2008

Objectives

 OHP Background & History Overview of  Overview of the field Occupational Health Psychology  Why is this so important?  Suggestions for getting involved  Suggested readings Christopher J. L. Cunningham The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

What is OHP? Introducing OHP  Occupational Health Psychology  Applying psychological principles to manage stress  Multi-disciplinary research and practice focused and health within work organizations on improving working lives of individuals,  Multi-disciplinary research and practice families, communities, and work organizations  Extension of WHO model:  Within psychology, these goals can be addressed by combining clinical, industrial-organizational Wellness > absence of symptoms (I-O), and health psychological principles to these challenges (Quick, 1999; Schneider et al., 1999)

Why OHP is Relevant to You OHP Emphases

 Creating and maintaining healthy and safe work  Prevention* environments requires attention to multiple  of negative effects of workplace exposures factors:  Promotion*  Physical/biological  of healthy personal and organizational actions  Social and behaviors  Psychological  Response  Interdisciplinary efforts should involve  to workplace exposures or crises when they professionals with psychological training occur, in a timely fashion

1 11/24/2008

Challenge of OHP Challenge of Occupational Health

 Limited governmental involvement  Difficult to enhance + maintain occ. health  Especially in the U.S.  For lasting positive change, OHP professionals  Health and well-being is a relatively new target for often work collaboratively with specialists in: psychologists and other professionals in Industrial safety/hygiene organizations Ergonomics  Professional resources are growing though Epidemiology  SOHP, NIOSH Public health Labor organizations  EA-OHP, I-WHO Medicine Law  ICG-OHP

OHP Concepts You Should Know Common OHP-Related Issues  Stressor exposure  Work Stress  Workload  Healthy workplaces  Constraints  Work Safety  Worker Incivility  Work-nonwork role challenges  Work-family/nonwork issues  Incivility  Multi-level concerns  Psychosocial Resources  Aging population  Work-Related Strains  Ethnic diversity  Intervention options  Fast-paced and continuous work

We have all been “stressed”… So, what is stress?

 Psychologically and physiologically we seek a balanced resting state

 Homeostasis

 Stressors are stimuli that disturb this state

 Stress is the experience of arousal in response to stressors and in preparation for a response

 Strain is what develops if the stress process continues without interruption …but why does this matter at work?

2 11/24/2008

Traditional Stress Process Model Is stress at work “bad”?

Strain

Physical/physiological

Perceived Stressor Psychological stress

Behavioral It depends

Stressors at Work Stress is Triggered by Many Work- Related Experiences (i.e., combinations  Ambiguity, lack of resources, amount/speed/ of stressors) quality demands, interpersonal conflicts…

 Especially problematic because:

 Limited response options

 Cumulative effects

 Individual differences

 Potentially “toxic” environments

Physiological Reactions to Stress Psychological Reactions to Stress

 Increased heart rate and blood pressure  Anxiety  Increased metabolic rate  Anger and aggression  Increased breathing rate  Apathy and depression  Dilation of pupils  Tensing of muscles  Cognitive impairment  Secretion of endorphins and stress hormones  Narrowing of attention, focus  Release of extra sugar from the liver Mind steps out for awhile Body goes into “overdrive”

3 11/24/2008

“Bad” (threatening) stress can… Stress at work may be good if it…  …impair cognitive functioning  …motivates (challenges)  …lead to cardiovascular health problems  …forces necessary adaptation  …damage immune and nervous systems  …is not a permanent environmental  …contribute to other physical/psychological strains feature  Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)  …is handled appropriately by the  Depression, anxiety, frustration worker and the organization  …reduce worker effectiveness

Work/Job/Occupational Stress

Stressor  Experience & Exposure  Health & Safety

So why does this matter?

Workplace Issues  25-40% of workers regularly report their jobs as very or extremely stressful  Chronic is “bad” in this case  Worker well-being and performance are interdependent  Financially & psychologically healthy workplaces require both  Basic personal needs at work matter Contagious diseases have declined.  Turnover, commitment, morale, satisfaction Stress-related ones have not.

4 11/24/2008

Tangible Costs of Chronic Work Stress How to Help  Increased occupational disability  Help employees do what they naturally do well:  Longer absences  Reduce impediments/constraints  > all other work-related injuries + illnesses  Creatively reinforce to maximize positive  Average stress-related absence is 20 days emotions, attitudes, and behaviors at work  Health care costs  Support employee efforts to manage work and  50+% greater for high- vs. low-risk (i.e., stressed) nonwork stress employees Employer, employee*, and society carry a major burden

Stress Management Interventions Stress Management Interventions  Three levels:  Increasingly prevalent in organizations  *Primary (alter source of stress)  Tend to focus on modifying stressors or employee  *Secondary (reduce severity of stress symptoms) perceptions/responses to stressors  Tertiary (treat effects of stress)  Wide variety, and most seem to work   Focus tends to be on improving workers’ ability to Most effective = Cognitive-behavioral manage stress  Still room for improvement in effectiveness  Few interventions actually target organization-  Other popular forms: level change  Relaxation enhancement  Meditation

Where Should I Start?  OHP research and practice opportunities are largely built on goals of NIOSH  Start with guidance from NIOSH: the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)  You can find the newest form of this through I’m interested…now what? NIOSH’s main website http://www.cdc/gov/niosh

 Cunningham (2007), Getting involved with OHP: A student’s perspective. Online at, http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/

5 11/24/2008

Where Should I Start? Where Should I Start?  Most OHP challenges require collaborative efforts  If you have applied-OHP interests you need to be with professionals in other related fields such as: more creative, though the market is improving epidemiology, public health, ergonomics, and  Consider also how you could have an impact on policy industrial hygiene ◦ Learn about government and committee structures,  Apply for a small grant to support your OHP- processes, and politics related research in a field setting. ◦ Study local, state, and federal regulations related to  Organizations will be more likely to partner OHP issues, including new developments when you have money  Develop a strong background in systems and integrative thinking, research methodology, and  Experience with grants can really set you on the statistical analyses and interpretation path to greatness in research

Concrete Start-up Suggestions Where can I go for more info?  How can your interests in psychology be applied to or informed by ongoing OHP research and practice?  http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/  Push yourself to work with others with different  http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/stress/ohp/ohp.html backgrounds/ skill sets. Work through any tension that may result in these relationships  this will help you in future  http://www.sohp-online.org collaborations.  Educate yourself in OHP-related disciplines  Take courses outside your specialty area, do research with non-psychologists, read broadly  Know thyself  Understand your psychology-related strengths and where your knowledge and expertise is weaker.  Will help you identify when collaboration will be helpful

6 11/24/2008

Suggested Readings

Barling, J., & Griffiths, A. (2002). A history of Occupational Health Psychology. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Ettrick (Eds.), Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology (pp. 19-33). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Boswell, W., Olson-Buchanan, JB., & LePine, MA. (2004). Relations between stress and work outcomes: The role of felt challenge, job control, and psychological strain. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 165-181. de Croon, E. M., Sluiter, J. K., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W. (2003). Need for recovery after work predicts sickness absence: A 2-year prospective cohort study in truck drivers. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 55, 331-339. Ferris, P. A., Sinclair, C., & Kline, T. J. (2005). It takes two to tango: Personal and organizational resilience as predictors of strain and cardiovascular disease risk in a work sample. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(3), 225-238. Goetzel, R. Z., Ozminkowksi, R. J., Baase, C. M., & Billotti, G. M. (2005). Estimating the return-on- investment from changes in employee health risks on the Dow Chemical Company's health care costs. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 47(8), 759-768. Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2003). Well-being in the workplace and its relationship to business outcomes: A review of the Gallup studies. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: The positive person and the good life (pp. 205-224). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513-524.

Suggested Readings Questions/Comments? Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6(4), 307-324. Jansen, N. W. H., Kant, I., van Amelsvoort, L. G. P. M., Nijhuis, F. J. N., & van den Brandt, P. A. (2003).  If you think of any questions or have any Need for recovery from work: evaluating short-term effects of working hours, patterns, and schedules. Ergonomics, 46(7), 664-680. comments, please contact me: McEwen, B. S. (2000). The neurobiology of stress: from serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Research, 886, 172-189. Richardson, K. M., & Rothstein, H. R. (2008). Effects of occupational stress management intervention programs: A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 13(1), 69-93. [email protected] Sonnentag, S., & Bayer, U.-V. (2005). Switching off mentally: Predictors and consequences of O: 423.425.4264 psychological detachment from work during off-job time. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(4), 393-414. http://www.utc.edu/Faculty/Chris-Cunningham Sonnentag, S., & Frese, M. (2003). Stress in organizations. In W. C. Borman & D. R. Ilgen (Eds), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology, Vol 12 (p. 453-491). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Sonnentag, S., & Zijlstra, F. R. H. (2006). Job characteristics and off-job activities as predictors of need for recovery, well-being, and fatigue. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(2), 330-350.

7