Conference Topics
00. Total Worker Health™: Effects of integrated (health protection plus health promotion) interventions, including both health/safety and organizational (e.g., economic, productivity) outcomes; The contribution of occupational and non-occupational factors to health and safety problems in today’s workplace (e.g., stress and mental health, obesity); Strategies and best practices for implementing and evaluating integrated prevention programs; Future challenges and directions relating to integrated prevention strategies; Training needs to advance research and practice relating to Total Worker Health.
01. Economic Issues and Concerns: Influence of the economy on management and employment practices, the organization of work, job security and income disparity; Economic consequences of stressful working conditions and stress-related disorders for employers, employees and society at large, including costs of illness, injury, disability and organizational productivity and performance losses; Economics of stress prevention and workplace interventions, including economic barriers to their implementation.
02. Best Practices in Creating Healthy Workplaces: Organizational, individual and multilevel interventions; Policy and legislative developments; Organizational learning; Corporate social responsibility; Program evaluation studies; Model programs; Practitioner toolkits; Evidence-based practice.
03. Collaborative and Participatory Approaches: Labor–management initiatives; Government–labor–business–university community partnerships; National and international collaborations.
04. Workplace Diversity, Minority and Immigrant Workers, Health Disparities: Differential exposures and susceptibilities; Race/ethnicity-related stressors; Stress and immigrant status; Workplace multiculturalism; Culturally-tailored prevention and intervention programs; Cultural competencies.
05. Workplace Mistreatment: Sexual harassment; Violence by customers, clients, patients, coworkers, etc.; Incivility; Violence prevention programs; Personal and organizational responses; Characteristics of perpetrators and victims; Bullying; Discrimination (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, disability).
06. Changing Employment Arrangements: Contract and temporary work; Self-employment; Under- and over-employment; Job insecurity; Psychological contracts; Part-time work.
07. Human Resource Management and Benefits: Health, pension, and other benefits; FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) issues, disability benefits; Pay equity and discrimination; Workers’ compensation programs; Return to work; Job accommodations.
08. Work Scheduling: Shift work; Overtime/extended hours of work; Flexible/compressed schedules; Schedule design; Telecommuting.
09. Work, Life, and Family: Work-life balance; Work-family conflict; Child and dependent care; Formal and informal family supports; Positive spillover; Intimate partner violence.
10. Organizational Practices: Lean production; Downsizing and resizing; Globalization; Outsourcing; Continuous improvement; Process reengineering; Emerging technologies.
11. Job and Task Design: Worker control; Work pace and work overload; Emotional labor; Physical demands.
12. Social and Organizational Environment: Organizational climate and culture; Social support; Supervision and leadership; Group dynamics; Communication.
13. High Risk Jobs and Populations: Younger and older workers; Hazardous work environments; High-risk occupations (e.g., agriculture, construction, emergency responders, health care, manufacturing, military, mining, transportation).
14. Traumatic Stress and Resilience: Assessment, prevention, mitigation, and treatment of traumatic stress; Resilience; PTSD; Treatment seeking and the barriers to obtaining treatment; Stigma associated with seeking treatment; Available resources and access to resources; Psychological first aid; Essential workers and emergency response; Ability and willingness to report to work.
15. Psychological and Biological Effects of Job Stress: Depression and stress; Musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and immune system function; Gender-related health concerns; Obesity; Alcohol and substance abuse; Physiological and psychological pathways to health outcomes; Burnout; Suicide.
16. Sleep, Fatigue, and Work: Effects of work schedules on sleep; Sleep disorders and medications; Health and productivity implications of sleep disruptions.
17. Aging and Work Stress: Job design for aging workers; Work capabilities and limitations; Attitudes toward aging workers; Implications of an aging workforce; Job retention and retraining; Disability management and accommodations; Health benefit implications.
18. Health Services and Health and Productivity Management: Health promotion;EAPs [Employee Assistance Programs]; Vocational rehabilitation; Career and work adjustment counseling; Return to work; Disability management; Stress management; Integrated prevention models.
19. Safety Climate, Management, & Training: Management commitment to safety; Safety motivation and leadership; Safety communication; Hazard identification and elimination; Barriers to eliminating or mitigating workplace hazards; Safety climate and culture.
20. Professional and Educational Development: Graduate and undergraduate training in Occupational Health Psychology; Teaching innovations; Employee training programs; Career development programs.
21. Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Job Stress: Personal, organizational, and cultural antecedents of stress; Moderators of stress-outcome relationships; Measurement of stress; Theoretical developments.
22. Research Methodology: Innovative research designs; Mixed-method research; Multidisciplinary research; Measure development; Case studies; Econometric analysis; Culturally-competent methods.
23. Prevention / Intervention Methods and Processes: Field intervention design; Engaging organizations in safety and health issues; Barriers to safety and health initiatives; Gaining access to organizations; Disseminating research findings to organizations; Intervention evaluation methods and standards; r2p (research-to-practice).
24. Global Concerns and Approaches: Surveillance strategies, methods, and programs; Job stress, risk factors, and interventions; Government and NGO initiatives; National policies and guidelines; International networks and collaborations.
25. Positive Psychology and Engagement in the Workplace.
26. Individual Factors: Personality; Coping styles.
27. Job Attitudes, Turnover, & Retention: Attraction; Withdrawal intentions and behaviors; Turnover; Motivation; Presenteeism; Absenteeism; Commitment; Organizational citizenship behaviors.
28. Emerging Risks, Opportunities, and Issues in Work, Stress, and Health.
