Developing an Intervention Toolbox for the Common Health Problems in the Workplace

Development of the Health ↔ Work Toolbox is described. The toolbox aims to reduce the workplace impact of common health problems (musculoskeletal, mental health, and stress complaints) by focusing on tackling work-relevant symptoms. Based on biopsychosocial principles this toolbox supplements current approaches by occupying the zone between primary prevention and healthcare. It provides a set of evidence-informed principles and processes (knowledge + tools) for tackling work-relevant common health problems. The toolbox comprises a proactive element aimed at empowering line managers to create good jobs, and a ‘just in time’ responsive element for supporting individuals struggling with a work-relevant health problem. The key intention is helping people with common health problems to maintain work participation. The extensive conceptual and practical development process, including a comprehensive evidence review, produced a functional prototype toolbox that is evidence based and flexible in its use. End-user feedback was mostly positive. Moving the prototype to a fully-fledged internet resource requires specialist design expertise. The Health ↔ Work Toolbox appears to have potential to contribute to the goal of augmenting existing primary prevention strategies and healthcare delivery by providing a more comprehensive workplace approach to constraining sickness absence

Developing an intervention toolbox for common health problems in the workplace

The project brief was to develop the content for an intervention toolbox for common health problems in the workplace - musculoskeletal, mental health and stress complaints. The intention was to develop a prototype toolbox that can be taken forward to (1) minimise the occurrence of work-relevant common health problems (CHPs) and (2) reduce avoidable sickness absence, healthcare use and long-term disability for CHP complaints that inevitably occur in the workplac

Semantic technologies for supporting KDD processes

209 p.Achieving a comfortable thermal situation within buildings with an efficient use of energy remains still an open challenge for most buildings. In this regard, IoT (Internet of Things) and KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases) processes may be combined to solve these problems, even though data analysts may feel overwhelmed by heterogeneity and volume of the data to be considered. Data analysts could benefit from an application assistant that supports them throughout the KDD process. This research work aims at supporting data analysts through the different KDD phases towards the achievement of energy efficiency and thermal comfort in tertiary buildings. To do so, the EEPSA (Energy Efficiency Prediction Semantic Assistant) is proposed, which aids data analysts discovering the most relevant variables for the matter at hand, and informs them about relationships among relevant data. This assistant leverages Semantic Technologies such as ontologies, ontology-driven rules and ontology-driven data access. More specifically, the EEPSA ontology is the cornerstone of the assistant. This ontology is developed on top of three ODPs (Ontology Design Patterns) and it is designed so that its customization to address similar problems in different types of buildings can be approached methodically

Teachers’ Help-Seeking Perceptions and Workplace Psychological Safety

This objective of this study was to investigate teacher mental health, attitudes toward psychological help-seeking, and perceptions of psychological safety within schools. Findings from this study of 600 Canadian educational professionals revealed a higher frequency and severity of distress than in the general population, warranting intervention. Attitudes toward psychological help-seeking were generally positive, though less favorable than comparable published studies. Overall, participants rated their workplaces as “somewhat” psychologically safe. However, there were low ratings of work-life balance and respectful treatment of mental illness by leadership. Implications and recommendations of these findings were discussed

CONSIDERING THE POWER OF CONTEXT: RACISM, SEXISM, AND BELOGING IN THE VICARIOUS TRAUMATIZATION OF COUNSELORS

Recent concerns have arisen about the effects on counselors of working with trauma survivors. Vicarious traumatization may be a normal developmental process of adapting to client trauma material and may ultimately result in vicarious posttraumatic growth, or positive changes arising from vicarious trauma. Most studies have focused on individual variables or clinician coping strategies that predict vicarious traumatization. Taking a feminist approach to vicarious traumatization, this study examined the role of workplace context variables, such as sense of belonging in the workplace and support for vicarious trauma at work, on counselor vicarious traumatization and vicarious posttraumatic growth. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit counselors from domestic violence and rape crisis centers, and recruitment messages were sent to all psychology internship and postdoctoral sites in the United States which were accredited by the American Psychological Association. Surveys were completed by 234 counselors. Counselors reported sub-clinical levels of vicarious trauma symptoms (intrusions, avoidance, and hyperarousal resulting from work with trauma survivors). Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that amount and intensity of exposure to client trauma material positively predicted vicarious trauma symptoms, and sense of belonging in the workplace negatively predicted vicarious trauma symptoms. Intensity of exposure, work setting, and support for vicarious trauma at work predicted vicarious posttraumatic growth, so that counselors exposed to more graphic details of client trauma, those working in domestic violence or rape crisis centers, and counselors with more support for vicarious trauma at work reported more vicarious posttraumatic growth. The relation between amount of exposure and vicarious posttraumatic growth was moderated by intensity of exposure and by sense of belonging in the workplace. Counselors with low sense of belonging at work reported less vicarious posttraumatic growth when amount of exposure was high, whereas counselors with high sense of belonging reported more vicarious posttraumatic growth with high exposure. Results suggest that counselors’ reactions to client trauma material are normal rather than pathological, are largely due to exposure to client trauma, and can be affected by workplace context factors, especially sense of belonging in the workplace and support for vicarious trauma at work

Mindfulness and Behavioural Insights: Reflections on the Meditative Brain, Systems Theory and Organisational Change

This paper explores the impacts of the Mindfulness-Based Behavioural Insights and Decision-Making (MBBI) programme. Combining mindfulness with behavioural insights instruction, the authors have developed the MBBI programme through a series of iterative trials over the last ten years. In addition to fusing mindfulness and behavioural insights, this programme also draws on the theories of autopoiesis, anticipatory systems, the predictive brain and constructed emotions, which all challenge the common assumption that behavioural and emotional responses are automatic (triggered by given stimuli and not open to change through self-reflection). The paper explores the use of the MBBI in the Welsh Civil Service. Employing evidence from in-depth interviews with participants and a SenseMaker analysis, it rethinks the role of mindfulness at work, repurposes the application of behavioural insights training toward a more ethical and systemic direction, and develops a reflective approach to capability building amongst public servants

Perceptions of Public Sector Pharmacists Regarding Their Beliefs, Attitudes Towards Teamwork

The workplace milieu in Nigerian public health facilities is marked with rivalry and lack of teamwork among health care professionals. Using a mixed methods research design with a phenomenological approach, the study evaluated the perceptions of public sector pharmacists regarding their beliefs and attitudes towards teamwork in their workplace. The study was based on the theoretical framework of theory of action, belief system theory (BST), cognitive-behavioral system, and self-perception theory. Using purposive sampling, experiential pharmacists working in a tertiary health facility in Nigeria were recruited as study participants. In the quantitative study, participants (n=12) were administered questionnaires with demographic questions and Likert scale closed-ended questions. The qualitative stage involved focus group discussions with participants (n=4) drawn from the same group used in the quantitative study. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and NVivo software respectively. Data from the focus group discussion were identified and categorized into themes using the BST construct. Results revealed that doctor’s perceived superiority and ownership of patients, turf protection, lack of knowledge of the role of pharmacists, disparity in remunerations, poor communication, resistance to change, defective leadership style, and other factors were impediments to teamwork. While dynamism, innovation, ingenuity, and proficiency were believed to promote teamwork. The participants affirmed that they are team players, and that health care professionals working as a team would improve health care services in Nigeria. To improve health care services in Nigeria, there is need to address the impediments, while factors that promote teamwork should be strengthened

Total Ergonomic Approach Minimize Work Accidents at Workshop Company

Research on total ergonomics to minimized numbers of work accidents at PB workshop company has been done, based on some approach such as: eight ergonomic aspects approach, appropriate technology application and SHIP approach. The aim of this study was to find out potensial solutions to minimized work accidents. Data obtained through questionnaire, face to face asking and anwering the questionnaire between researcher and employees, as well as fill in the questionnaire by the employees. Result shows that eight ergonomic aspects approach, application of appropriate technology and SHIP approach in minimized work accidents were good and very good. Total ergonomics approach model reveal a linear reduction in work accidents. It was suggested, to improve theory and practical kill of the workers by training about total ergonomics approach and provide safety equipments to worker who work at dangerous area Keywords: Ergonomics, workplace accidents, worksho

A mixed methods investigation of multidimensional fatigue in the wind industry: towards a sustainable workforce

The wind industry encompasses a high hazard work environment with multiple demands unique to those working in this sector. A key risk to health, safety and productivity is operator fatigue. Poor management of operator fatigue is highly associated with unsafe behaviour as well as physical and mental health issues. Despite this, there is a lack of industry specific research on fatigue. Furthermore, wider organisational research and practice around fatigue management is highly reductionist, often simply addressing sleep-related strains. This could be attributed to the lack of agreed definition around the concept, particularly in the focussed literature on fatigue risk management. This research aimed to address these issues with a mixed methods approach to fatigue research in the wind industry.Research initially comprised a systematic review examining research on human factors in the wind industry which identified multiple unique industry-related strains. Following this, a qualitative interview study with wind industry employees was conducted. Findings suggested that fatigue is experienced as a multidimensional state highly impacted by cumulative strain. Finally, a 4-week quantitative diary study compared fatigue and sleep between working and non-working time and two different types of operations and maintenance roles. Findings indicated that fatigue was highly influenced by multiple work-related demands and that this impact was cumulative and occurred regardless of sleep acquisition. This emphasises the need to employ a multidimensional approach when researching and managing fatigue and for workplace interventions to be implemented with a focus on both organisational design and individual behaviour