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Psychology of Health in the Workplace

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Psychology of Health in the Workplace
Kristin Haimowitz
HCA/250
January 22, 2012
Wakita R. Bradford

Psychology of Health in the Workplace
A good attitude can go a long way in making the place where you work a more tolerable place to be. Having a healthy lifestyle can make it easier to deal with the smaller problems that seem to happen on a day to day basis. Health psychology is concerned with understanding how biological, psychological, environmental, and cultural factors are involved in physical health and the prevention of illness. Due to recent advances in psychological, medical, and physiological research, it had lead to new ways of thinking about health and illness. This conceptualization, which has been labeled the biopsychosocial model, views health and illness as the product of a combination of factors including biological characteristics (e.g., genetic predisposition), behavioral factors (e.g., lifestyle, stress, health beliefs, and social conditions (e.g., cultural influences, family relationships, social support) (Marks, 2011).
People have developed a field of health psychology that helps people deal with stressors that they are involved with at their workplace. Many experts perform research to help them solidify their findings. Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) has developed from these studies, and does research so that they can better understand the needs of people in their work settings. Also, OHP looks to understand how psychosocial characteristics of individual workplaces affect the health and well being of people who work. OHP is also concerned with developing strategies to effect change at workplaces so that it can improve the health of the people that work. OPH is mostly concerned with many and various diseases, such as accidents and injuries all the way to cardiovascular problems.
Did you know that a person’s home life may carry over to their performance at work? This can hinder your poor performance and a bad review. If an employee finds themselves clinically depressed, and this makes the performance of their job duties all the more difficult. Some employees have pre existing conditions that may make carrying out their job responsibilities all the more challenging. These issues and many others can lead to an increased stress that will, in no doubt, affect the works ability at their job.
As time goes on, we are better able to realize the stressors that can affect the employees on the job. We can learn more ways to be aware of way to mitigate the complications of these problems. You can enroll in OHP counseling for one and, the employee makes choose to make a different lifestyle changes to help them manage stress more effectively. For example, to feel more energized at work, people make have a more balanced and nutritious eating plan that also avoids alcohol and caffeine. An organized exercise program for the employees is a good idea too. If the employees can maintain this train of thought on bettering their health, then their overall feelings about stress at work should improve.
While these simple suggestions may seem obvious, they can be lifesavers for those employees that really need it. Even something as small as a suggestion box that is gone over at every meeting can make the staff feel better and feel more in power against workplace annoyances. Just an improvement in health can help the individual seek a less stressful home and work place environment.

References:
Marks, D. (2011) Health Psychology. Theory-Research-Practice (3rd Ed.) Sage Publications.

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