Quarterly News and Updates December 2021 |
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Happy Winter! An estimated 10% of the worlds population struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder, a temporary form of depression predominantly affecting people in colder and more northern countries. As people around the world celebrate their festivals of lights, we focus this issue on mental well-being.
In this issue, CPH-NEW Director William Shaw, PhD, provides a high-level view of important research being done on mental well-being at work. This issue finishes with information about CPH-NEW research, free mental health resources, educational programs, and more.
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Mental well-being at work: An expanding frontier in Total Worker Health® |
Contributed by William S. Shaw, Ph.D., University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Psychological job strain exerts a clear influence on the long-term mental health outcomes of workers. Classically, these factors have included job stress and other measures of psychological work demands, job strain (high demands with low decision latitude), long working hours, and poor social or organizational support. Multiple systematic reviews have reached similar conclusions of an independent effect of workplace psychosocial factors on mental health, including depression, burnout, and suicidal ideation.
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Training and Continuing Education
CPH-NEW launched a free, online professional education course that introduces Total Worker Health (TWH) and its application in occupational safety and health (OSH) professional practice. The content is appropriate for industrial hygienists, environmental safety and health managers, safety specialists, occupational health nurses, and union health and safety stewards. The program provides five hours of instruction. Participants can earn a Certificate of Completion, which can be used to apply for credit from professional accrediting boards. More information here.
Total Worker Health Facilitator Training: Join CPH-NEW's free training course to learn how to engage workers in a design process focused on employee safety, health and well-being. Learn from our team engagement experts how to implement the Design Team model used in the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program (HWPP). Following the completion of the program, participants will be able to lead a team in discussing ways to improve safety, health, and well-being. Registration is open for classes in January 2022. Register here.
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December 7-9 and 14-16, 2021 - National Conference on Worker Safety & Health, COSHCON2021 (virtual). Presented by National Council for Occupational Safety & Health (COSH).Topics include: organizing during crises, heat stress, building power through intersectionality, and basic health and safety rights. Register here.
December 9-11, 2021 - Expanded Focus for Occupational Safety and Health (Ex4OSH) International Conference in Houston, Texas. CPH-NEW Co-Director, Laura Punnett, Sc.D. will present as a Keynote Speaker, discussing the paradigm shift of well-being at work. Information and registration here.
March 7-10, 2022 - Association of Safe Patient Handling Professionals (SPHP), Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) Education Event in Glendale, Arizona. Innovate. Integrate. Motivate. Call for abstracts.
October 11-14, 2022- National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Total Worker Health Symposium. Call for abstracts open until February 4, 2022
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Watch, Listen, Read
Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (OHWC) toolkit: The Active Workplace toolkit is a science-based toolkit designed to help reduce sitting time at work and provide training to help managers and supervisors better support workplace safety, health and well-being for their employees. Employees will also engage in trainings and team activities to help promote a culture of safety, health and well-being.
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Congratulations to Rajashree Kotejoshyer on her new job! During her long affiliation with CPH-NEW, Raj has the distinction of having worked at all three center campuses. In her new role as project manager at the Institute for Healthcare Delivery and Population Science at the UMass Chan Medical School/Baystate, her NIH funded research will focus on improving participation in pulmonary rehabilitation through peer-coaching and storytelling to enhance the health of individuals diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. |
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Congratulations to CPH-NEW research assistant, Bryan Patriquin, MPH, who won 1st place in the Occupational Health and Safety Section’s New Researchers Competition at the APHA 2021 Annual Meeting in November. His presentation was titled, “Evaluating Healthcare Personnel During a Pandemic Using the Burnout and Occupational Well-Being Survey (BOWS).” For this study, Bryan developed a healthcare-specific survey tool to quantify burnout and well-being on a spectrum scale, and piloted the tool throughout a hospital system. Bryan is a first year Public Health doctoral student at UMass Lowell. |
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If you or someone you know are experiencing a suicide-related crisis
call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24/7 crisis center,
text HOME to 741741 to reach a trained 24/7 crisis counselor,
or call 9-1-1
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CPH-NEW is a NIOSH TWH Center of Excellence |
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