Bridging Occupational, Organizational and Public Health

In our complex, fast changing society, health is strongly influenced by the continuously changing interactions between organisations and their employees. Three major fields contribute to health-oriented improvements of these interactions: occupational health, organizational health and public health. As currently only partial links exist amongst these fields, the book aims to explore potential synergies more systematically. Considering the high mental and social demands in a service and knowledge sector economy, the first part of the book focuses on work-related psychosocial factors. As a large proportion of inequalities in health in developed countries can be explained by inequalities in working conditions, those psychosocial factors with a particularly high public health impact are highlighted. As addressing these psychosocial factors requires to involve the organization as the key change agent, the second part covers approaches to improve public health through organizational level health interventions. The last section takes a look into the future of occupational, organizational and public health: what are the future challenges regarding occupational health and how can they be tackled within and beyond the organizational level. Overall, this integrating book will help to broaden the evidence-base, legitimacy and efficacy of occupational- and organizational-level health interventions and thus increase their public health impact.

After his medical studies, Georg Bauer, MD DrPH, has been public health researcher since 1990, in Europe as well as in the United States, where he received his Master and Doctor of Public Health at the School of Public Health in Berkley, California. His research areas include salutogenesis, community-based health promotion, health indicators, as well as occupational and organizational health with a focus on organizational health development (OHD). Currently he heads the Division Public and Organizational Health of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich and the Center for Organizational and Occupational Sciences, ETH Zurich. The division is committed to a transdisciplinary research approach, combining researchers from diverse fields (Psychology, Sociology, Medicine, Economics) and partners from the field. To establish a sustainable research-practice link, a consulting center for OHD as well as a MAS Work + Health and a CAS in OHD are integral parts of the research division.