No abstract

Correctional officers (COs) are exposed to a number of occupational stressors, and their health declines early in their job tenure. Interventions designed to prevent early decline in CO health are limited. This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a one-year peer health mentoring program (HMP) guided by Total Worker Health® principles and using a participatory action research to collectively address worker safety, health, and well-being of newly hired COs. The HMP aimed to provide new COs with emotional and tangible forms of support during their first year of employment, including peer coaching to prevent early decline in physical fitness and health. The development and implementation of the HMP occurred across five main steps: (1) participatory design focus groups with key stakeholders; (2) adaptation of an existing mentoring handbook and training methods; (3) development of mentor–mentee recruitment criteria and assignment; (4) designing assessment tools; and (5) the initiation of a mentor oversight committee consisting of union leadership, corrections management, and research staff. Correctional employee engagement in the design and implementation process proved to be efficacious in the implementation and adaptation of the program by staff. Support for the HMP remained high as program evaluation efforts continued.

BACKGROUND: Organizational readiness for change measures were reviewed to develop an assessment tool for guiding implementation of an occupational safety and health program based on Total Worker Health (TWH) principles. Considerable conceptual ambiguity in the theoretical and empirical peer-reviewed literature was revealed. OBJECTIVE: Develop and validate an assessment tool that organizations can use to prepare for implementation of a participatory TWH program. METHODS: Inclusion criteria identified 29 relevant publications. Analysis revealed eight key organizational characteristics and predictors of successful organizational change. A conceptual framework was created that subject matter experts used to generate prospective survey items. Items were revised after pretesting with 10 cognitive interviews with upper-level management and pilot-tested in five healthcare organizations. Reliability of the domain subscales were tested based on Cronbach’s α. RESULTS: The Organizational Readiness Tool (ORT) showed adequate psychometric properties and specificity in these eight domains: 1) Current safety/health/well-being programs 2) Current organizational approaches to safety/health/well-being; 3) Resources available for safety/health/well-being; 4) Resources and readiness for change initiatives to improve safety/health/well-being; 5) Resources and readiness for use of teams in programmatic initiatives; 6) Teamwork; 7) Resources and readiness for employee participation; and 8) Management communication about safety/health/well-being Acceptable ranges of internal consistency statistics for the domain subscales were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Development of a conceptual framework for organizational readiness for change guided item generation for an assessment tool. Items were then refined based on cognitive interviews with specified end users. Initial internal consistency was demonstrated following administration at multiple organizations prior to implementation of a participatory Total Worker Health ® program.

No abstract

Introduction The world's population is ageing. This creates a need to work for longer, both for income and to provide an adequate labour force. For those employed in predominantly physically demanding jobs this means they are prolonging their exposure to risk factors known to increase the likelihood of a musculoskeletal injury when their work capacity may be declining. The work ability of older workers has been most frequently assessed using the Work Ability Index (WAI). Several studies have reported significant associations between low WAI scores and sickness absence and early retirement. Relatively fewer studies have examined associations between WAI scores and specific workplace risk factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between a range of workplace risk factors and the WAI scores in a cohort of workers employed in physically demanding jobs. Methods A cross-sectional survey of workers employed in physically demanding roles within a local government council was undertaken. The survey instruments included questions on demographic and employment characteristics, physical and psychosocial risk factors, pain and discomfort, and the Work Ability Index. Result The survey was completed by 155/245 of eligible workers -a 63% response rate. Respondents had a mean age of 44 years. They were predominantly male (86%) with an average length of employment of 12 years. Bivariate regression analyses were undertaken to examine the relationship between WAI scores and age, pain/discomfort, levels of stress, irritation, job satisfaction, work-life balance, and 49 other work environment risk factors. Significant associations with WAI scores were seen for age, pain/discomfort and physical and psychosocial risk factors. The WAI score was reduced by more than 2.5 points for those who reported higher levels of exposure to a range of physical and psychosocial risk factors compared with those who reported lower levels of exposure. Discussion It was found that the WAI provided a useful means to identify a range of workplace risk factors which, if addressed, could inform the development of interventions to maintain a healthy, older workforce. It is proposed that tailoring interventions using this approach should enhance their effectiveness. 1617AGEING AND SHIFTWORK Aim of this special session Ageing and shiftwork is a rather new and 'hot topic' because of the intentions to prolong working lives in many countries. Because shiftwork could be very demanding for older employees it need more attention than earlier. Introduction Night shift work is associated with adverse health effects. Yet, some persons prefer working permanent night shifts and it is speculated that they tolerate night work better than others. The aim of is to study associations between permanent night work, age and sickness absence. Due to selfselection out of night work over time by those who experience negative effects of night work, we hypothesised that older workers with permanent night work are 'healthy workers' with less sickness absence...