The directors of the NIOSH Total Worker Health Centers have convened and published the results of two workshops addressing the scientific need for research in the Total Worker Health field. A Statement on National WorkLife Priorities made the case integrating employee health programs to better control risks and hazards from life and work, enhance worker productivity and deliver tailored employee health services. The University of Iowa Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence (HWCE) proposes to organize, convene, and disseminate the proceedings of a November 29-30, 2012 Total Worker Health (TWH) Symposium featuring research from the NIOSH Total Worker Health Center Program. Organization of a Total Worker Health Symposium is important and timely as research projects from the initially funded centers were only recently completed and much of this work has not yet been published. The objectives of the TWH Symposium are: 1) to convene national experts in workplace health promotion and health protection research, 2) present state-of-the- art research overviews, 3) present research-to-date from the NIOSH-funded Total Worker Health(tm) Centers of Excellence, 4) discuss the future direction of research in the Total Worker Health field, and 5) to publish peer reviewed symposium proceedings.
The specific aims of this proposal are:
Specific Aim 1 : Together with members of the Program Planning and Peer Review Committee, complete a peer review and editing of all papers summarized in symposium presentations.
Specific Aim 2 : To enter into a contract between the HWCE and either the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, or American Journal of Industrial Medicine to complete an independent peer review and publish the proceedings of the Total Worker Health Symposium within one year of the date of the symposium. Planning for the symposium has been undertaken by its Program Planning and Peer Review Committee composed of the four Total Worker Health Center directors. Senior investigators from each of the four centers will make state-of-the-art plenary presentations critically summarizing research in five major health promotion and health protection topical areas. The symposium will also include 10 topical research presentations. The Total Worker Health(tm) Symposium plans for a supplemental journal issue to be published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, or American Journal of Industrial Medicine. The supplemental issue will include six major papers and 10 shorter papers. The theme of the supplemental issue will be Total Worker Health(tm) Program Research, documentation of the benefits and challenges of integrating workplace programs, and research gaps in this field. All papers will be peer reviewed by both the Program Planning and Peer Review Committee and an independent journal peer review. We propose to have edited proceedings sent to the journal by the end of April, 2013 in anticipation of publication of this supplemental issue within a year following the symposium.
The Total Worker Health Symposium will convene all of the Total Worker Health(tm) Centers of Excellence and NIOSH researchers to advance this critical research area. The symposium will present research-to-date from the NIOSH-funded Centers of Excellence and NIOSH intramural research, document the benefits and challenges of integrated health promotion and health protection in the workplace, and identify research gaps in this field that need to be addressed. The following proposal describes how we plan to use NIOSH funding to edit and publish a supplemental special issue with a peer-reviewed journal in an effort to advance the field of integrated workplace health promotion and health protection research.
