Occupational Health Psychology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Health Psychology ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Quality Of Work Life ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Occupational Health Psychology ◽  
Health And Well Being

Occupational health psychology is concerned with improving the quality of work life and protecting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of workers. Research and theoretical development in this area of psychology has focused on a number of core areas, particularly the study of workplace stress, health and safety at work, workplace aggression and bullying, work–life balance, and impact of the organization of work on health and well-being, including flexible work and new technology. Researchers have devoted attention to understanding the causes and mechanisms linking work design and organizational factors to health, safety, and well-being in the workplace, as well as developing interventions to improve work conditions and promote well-being. While much of this work has focused on alleviating negative effects (e.g., preventing disease and injury and reducing stress symptoms), positive psychology has influenced researchers to examine motivating effects that create the conditions for personal growth and learning (e.g., job crafting, thriving at work, and work engagement).

De psychologie van arbeid en gezondheid: verleden, heden en toekomst

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilmar Schaufeli
Keyword(s):  
Health Psychology ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Occupational Health Psychology ◽  
Institutional Climate ◽  
Optimal Functioning ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Health And Well Being

Occupational Health Psychology: past, present and future Occupational Health Psychology: past, present and future Wilmar Schaufeli, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 17, October 2004, nr. 5, pp. 327-341 Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) concerns studying and improving employees' health and well-being. Although some psychologists pioneered the field a long time ago, OHP emerged relatively recent in the 1990s. The Netherlands have played an important role in its development, since OHP found a fertile soil in the country's legal, political, social, psychological, and institutional climate. In view of both external (i.e. societal) and internal (i.e. scientific) developments the future of OHP research is described. In particular, some important results and future challenges of five different types of research are discussed: explanatory, descriptive, tool development, intervention and organizational change research, respectively. The article concludes with the observation that the current 'negative' approach of OHP that focuses on unhealthiness, unwell-being and malfunctioning is evolving towards a more 'positive' approach that focuses on health, well-being and optimal functioning.

WORK TIME AND WORK STYLE REFORM AMONG PHYSICIANS IN JAPAN

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-46
Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Nakashima ◽  
Toru Yoshikawa ◽  
Michiko Kido ◽  
Yoshiharu Aizawa ◽  
Kichiro Matsumoto
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Community Medicine ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Comprehensive Management ◽  
Work Style ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Health And Well Being

Background: The April 2019 amendment of the Labor Standards Act in Japan led to a current ongoing work style reform. The amendment set the monthly overtime cap at 100 hours, but physicians are exempt for the next five years. The work style reform for physicians aims to ensure both their health and well-being and to provide appropriate community medicine. From April 2024, the maximum overtime permitted for physicians will be 100 hours a month and 960 hours a year. Community medicine hospitals, however, will have a different time limit and their physicians will be allowed to work up to 100 hours a month and 1,860 hours a year overtime. Junior/senior residents can also apply for exemption by registering for accredited training programs. Exempt physicians are required to comply with additional measures to ensure their good health and well-being. Objectives: This paper proposes promotion strategies for work style reform for physicians in Japan. Method: The Japan Medical Association Physicians’ Work Style Reform Committee developed proposals using the Delphi methods. Results: To manage physicians’ work time, an objective understanding of real work conditions, a review of employment agreements, active use of occupational health teams, task shifting, support for female physicians, and KAIZEN (a Japanese business philosophy) activities are important. The roles fulfilled by occupational health physicians, hospital directors, supervisors, physicians, patients, and community medicine systems are summarized from the perspective of comprehensive management. Conclusions: The Japanese health care system defines the work style of Japanese physicians. However, physicians as highly specialized professionals can more or less choose any workplace. A physician being aware of their characteristics and independently choosing their own work style would give meaning to an appropriate work–life balance. True work style reform should aim for this.

THE BROADENED SCOPE OF A PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH TO WORK, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Werdie Van Staden
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Work Context ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Role Players ◽  
Healthy Work ◽  
Health And Well Being

Background: Person-centered medicine (PCM) broadens the practical scope in health practice beyond patient-centered medicine. Objectives: The objective of this article is to consider what a broadened scope mean in understanding how employment/work relates to the promotion of health and well-being of the patient and the practitioner. Method: The conceptual scope of PCM is applied in considering the connections of work with health and well-being. The scope of occupational health is accordingly expanded in accounting for the work and well-being of the patient and the practitioner. Results: PCM puts the person and people before their work. It recognizes that an employed person, whether patient or practitioner, works in a context that is interpersonal and in which all the role players contribute to a healthy milieu. This means that a healthy work–life balance should not be pursued merely as an attribute of an individual, but as a pursuit to which all role players should actively contribute and take joint responsibility. Both the employer and the employee should accordingly invest in a healthy work–life balance, for example. An employer that recognizes in a person-centered way its role in the well-being of its employee is investing in the employee as a valued asset not merely by attending to the person’s ill health and the prevention of ill health and burnout (as is commonly the objective in occupational health programs), but by promoting his or her positive health and well-being. Furthermore, PCM guides the pursuit of a person’s well-being in a healthy work context by accounting for the person’s subjective experiences, values, preferences and interests. Conclusion: PCM provides for an approach to a healthy work context in which the patient or the practitioner may flourish through active investments for which both the employer and the employee should take responsibility.

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