Interventions in Occupational Health Psychology
Full course description
Occupational health and safety reflect the effect of the work environment on employees, groups and work units in organizations, and organizations as a whole (Tetrick and Peiró, 2012).
According to the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, there are three major domains of Occupational Health Psychology (OHP): the work environment; the individual; and the interface between work and non-work relative to employees’ safety, health, and well-being. OHP takes a primary prevention perspective, focusing on the elimination of risks to employees’ safety and health (Quick and Tetrick, 2003).
In this context, Tetrick and Peiro (2012) recommend that future research should focus on (a) incorporate the realities of today’s work environments, and (b) integrate a positive approach with countervailing interventions (Kelloway et al., 2006), so as not to just focus on prevention but also on enhancement and development of workers, the work environment, and the interaction between workers and the environment (Tetrick and Peiró 2016).
The main purpose of this course is to provide students with theoretical and methodological tools for reviewing, criticizing and assessing interventions on OHP, elaborate quality requirement for the design and implementation of new interventions.
Course objectives
The general objective of this course is that students acquire knowledge and develop competencies regarding research on intervention in OHP. More specifically, at the end of the course the students will:
- Know the “state of the art “of intervention in OHP and identify the main research gaps. Reviewing scientific journals and also best practices reports.
- Be able to assess and evaluate intervention research in the main OHP interventions, identifying the more relevant factors and issued that should to be included in an intervention plan in this area.
- Be able to design their own research projects in intervention in OHP, taking into account new research design and measures (observational, qualitative, etc.)