Efforts to identify and eliminate occupational health disparities require an understanding of the broader social and environmental context in which workers live their lives. New conceptual frameworks and research recognize that, not only do workers experience the physical and social hazards of their jobs, but their susceptibility or resilience to workplace experiences with regard to health is further shaped by their social and environmental context beyond work, including at home, and also by their commuting experience. Accordingly, we propose to use the previously validated methodology of geocoding and linkage of individual subjects to the area- based socioeconomic characteristics of their neighborhoods of residence to greatly enhance the available information on the social and environmental context of the workers in the United for Health (UFH) study. Specifically, we further enrich the UFH's already substantial data on workplace physical and social hazards and health outcomes with data on the workers'neighborhood, the workplace neighborhood, and the workers'commute time, as follows:
Specific Aim A.1. Geocode workers'residential and workplace addresses in the United for Health study cohort, in order to (a) append residential and workplace US census-derived area-based socioeconomic measures (ABSMs) and (b) calculate the commute travel distance and travel time between the workers'home and worksite.
Specific Aim A.2. Assess the extent to which individual socioeconomic position, residential and workplace ABSMs, and commute distance are associated with the following selected health outcomes, overall and in relation to race/ethnicity and gender:(a) fair or poor self-rated health;(b) smoking;(c) elevated blood pressure;and (d) increased respiratory symptoms.
Specific Aim A.3. Assess the role of residential and workplace ABSMs and commute distance as modifiers of established associations between the selected health outcomes and workplace physical hazards (noise, dust/gases and chemical fumes, and ergonomic strain) and social hazards (workplace abuse, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and job strain). By addressing these aims, this project will yield new information that can encourage and inform collaboration among occupational health and environmental health practitioners, regulators, and advocates, urban planners, community based groups, and worker organizations, including unions, about ways to create healthier communities and jobs. This project explores how the social and environmental context of workers'residential and workplace neighborhoods, including commuting time and distance, impacts their health. In particular, we focus on interactions between individual and neighborhood socioeconomic position as modifiers of susceptibility to workplace physical and social hazards.
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