This session will focus upon international
research studies, which reveal that a wide range of workplace
conditions have been implicated as risk factors for a variety
of health problems including cardiovascular disease (CVD), psychological
distress and work?related musculoskeletal disorders. These workplace
conditions include shift work, long work hours, and chemical,
physical, and psychosocial conditions. The most consistent evidence
is provided by sources of psychosocial stress at work.
We also discuss current models of the complex pathways through which social conditions produce stress and influence behavior and risk of disease which progresses from general macro social conditions down to micro level processes in individual persons. These models describe how social structure (e.g., socioeconomic status or social class, race, gender) shapes the immediate social environment (e.g., working conditions, housing, neighborhood, access to services), which influences lifestyle behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, exercise), personality and psychological characteristics (e.g., hostility, self-efficacy, depression, Type A behavior, individual coping), and physiological risk factors for disease (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol, overweight). In the context of these models, research findings linking personality/psychological characteristics, social conditions, job conditions and disease states are discussed. In addition, emphasis will be placed on recent research on the job demand-control model and the influence of job characteristics on behaviors, psychological characteristics and physiological responses to stress. This includes studies on the effects of "passive" (low demand-low control) jobs on reducing self-efficacy and increasing passive behavior, external locus of control, feelings of depression and learned helplessness; and the effects of "active" (high demand-high control) jobs on increasing active learning, internal locus of control, a broader range of coping strategies, and intellectual flexibility.
Faculty contributors: Peter Schnall, Paul Landsbergis
Psychosocial Practicum: Turn in self scored questionnaires
Readings:
Workplace factors and CVD outcomes. In: Schnall PL, Belkic K, Landsbergis PA, Baker D (eds.) Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Review. The Workplace and Cardiovascular Disease. 2000; 15 (1): 7-68.
Karasek RA, Theorell T. Healthy Work: Stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life. New York. Basic Books, Inc., 1990, pp.89-103.
Landsbergis PA, Schnall PL, Dietz DK, Warren K, Pickering TG, Schwartz JE. Job strain, health behaviors and cardiovascular risk factors: Results of a prospective study. American Journal of Health Promotion 1998; 12(4):237-245.
Midterm Due