Entry requirements
Only open to master’s students in Psychology with specialisation Occupational Health Psychology.
Description
This course focuses on interventions to promote employee health and well-being. Attention is given to individual focused health promotion (e.g., life style interventions), as well as organisational interventions (e.g., job redesign). A stepwise approach is followed, starting from how to assess psychosocial job conditions / occupational risks and health / well-being outcomes, to the development, implementation, and evaluation of an intervention programme. The workgroup sessions combine mini lectures with in-class assignments. The topics addressed are elaborated upon in individual homework assignments. Parallel to this, students work autonomously in subgroups to develop an evidence-based intervention programme for a specific work setting. Case descriptions, based on actual situations in e.g. health care and manufacturing industry, are used as a starting point. At the end of the course each subgroup will present their intervention programme (including a rationale, an outline, and evaluation plans) to the other students. The intervention programmes will be compared and critically discussed.
Course objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will:
Be acquainted with some methods to assess psychosocial job conditions / occupational risks and health/well-being in employees;
Be aware of the potential benefits / advantages of the worksite as a setting for health promotion, and of the ethical issues involved in worksite health promotion; and
Be able to design a tailored worksite intervention to improve employee health and well-being applying scientific knowledge with regard to effective interventions.
This course prepares students for their future role as occupational health psychologists in which they may need to assess occupational risks / psychosocial job conditions and employee health and well-being in diverse organisational settings, and design and implement tailored evidence-based interventions to improve employee health and well-being.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
NOTE As of the academic year 2021-2022, you must register for all courses in uSis.
You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from early August. Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from December. The exact date on which the registration starts will be published on the website of the Student Service Center (SSC)
By registering for a course you are also automatically registered for the Brightspace module. Anyone who is not registered for a course therefore does not have access to the Brightspace module and cannot participate in the first sit of the exam of that course.
Also read the complete registration procedure
Mode of instruction
The course starts off with a plenary 3-hour session, followed by six 3-hour workgroup sessions, and ends with two 3-hour plenary presentation & discussion sessions. All phases and crucial aspects of the intervention process will be addressed, from assessment and problem analysis of the current situation, to the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions.
Attendance to all sessions is mandatory.
Assessment method
The final grade is based on:
Subgroup assignment: report and presentation (50%)
Individual assignments (50%)
The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.
Reading list
Leka, S. & Houdmont, J. (Eds.)(2010) Occupational Health Psychology. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 (note: this book will also be used in the course ’Work and Stress’)
Further readings will be announced via Brightspace. Exemplary literature includes:
Cahalin, L.P., Kaminsky, L., Lavie, C.J., et al. (2015). Development and implementation of worksite health and wellness programs: A focus on Non-communicable disease. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 58, 94-101.
Grossmeier, J., Terry, P.E., Cipriottio, A. & Burtaine, J.E. (2010). Best practices in Evaluating Worksite Health Promotion Programs. American Journal of Health Promotion, 24(3), The Art of Health Promotion 1-9, iii.
Nielsen, K, Randall, R, Holten, A, et al. (2010). Conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions: What works?. Work and Stress, 24(3), 234-259.
Pronk, N. (2014). Best practice design principles of worksite health and wellness programs. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 18(1), 42-46.
Robroek, S, van Lenthe, F, van Empelen, P, & Burdorf, A. (2009). Determinants of participation in worksite health promotion programmes: A systematic review. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6(1), 26.
Tetrick, L.E. & Winslow, C.J. (2015). Workplace stress management interventions and health promotion. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2, 583-603.
Toker, S., Heaney, C.A. & Ein-Gar, D. (2015) Why won’t they participate? Barriers to participation in worksite health promotion programmes. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24(6), 866-881.
Van Berkel, J., Meershoek, A., Janssens, R., Boot, C., & Proper, K. (2014). Ethical considerations of worksite health promotion: An exploration of stakeholders' views. BMC Public Health, 14, 458
Contact information
Dr. Margot van der Doef doef@fsw.leidenuniv.nl