Positive occupational health
In order to survive and prosper in a context of continuing economic and social change with economical and financial crises and convulsions, organizations and employees need to be motivated and psychologically healthy. For organizational psychology and occupational health psychology, this opens a promising field of research on issues related to motivating, encouraging, and developing employees by doing more than reducing negative work characteristics. Positive “organizational” psychology implies strengthening the positive resources already latent in human beings, and is about exploring positive experiences, and the good working life. This more positive approach invites us to move beyond the study and treatment of dysfunction, to understand and promote healthy functioning.
In previous research there has been an imbalance with a focus on what is wrong and how it can be fixed (risk prevention), instead of a focus on developing optimal functioning and positive health (health promotion). Through a focus on health promotion, new aspects of what constitute good health might emerge. The field of positive occupational health encompasses the concepts of work environment, health and productivity in which well-being of the employee coexists with efficient and productive organizations. Whereas excessive demands predict burnout and ill health, a focus on presence of various resources in a work organization predict employee health and well-being.
This research area will therefore carry out research questions like; How to increase work engagement? What can the employee do in order to flourish and thrive at work and how can the organization support this?
Currently areas of research under investigation in this research group encompass; engagement, flow, work-home interactions, rehabilitation, positive work resources, positive health and healthy organizations.
This research group has already established national as well as international collaborations partners in Poland, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. E.g “positive factors at work” and “Building engagement and healthy organisations” which are two Nordic research projects financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. One publication can be found at the following link: http://www.norden.org/no/publikasjoner/publikasjoner/2008-501/at_download/publicationfile and another report will be published during the autumn.
Health promotion in the third world
Norway spends more then 200 billion NOK over the state budget on disease treatment and care in 2009. Few countries has the possibility to spend that much. Most countries in the world therefore are forced to think positively – how can we keep people healthy and avoid health problems like unhealthy behaviour development, unhealthy lifestyles? - How can we enhance positive health developments, health promotion and salutogenesis?
Research Centre for Health Promotion and Resources HiST/NTNU already have, and will aim at building new, strong research collaboration with third would countries in health promotion science. “How to keep the healthy healthy”.
There is today a strong conviction in large parts of the health research world that there is a lot to gain in health by carry out research which enlarges the knowledge base about positive health factors and health resources. This is important to be able to build new and proved effective health promoting interventions based on more responsible citizens. There is also a steadily stronger conviction among researchers and politicians that turning toward more health promotional thinking will ease the economical burdens heavy disease budgets puts on societies in all parts of the world.
To build theoretical approaches, concepts and methodological approaches to understand health promotional activities in third world countries will be the scope of this area.
Health promotion in the life span
Adolescence represents an important develop transition from childhood to adulthood. It is recognized with changes in roles and responsibilities, in addition to major physiological and psychological changes. Adolescence is generally a time where risks are laid down for chronic conditions which will only become manifest in later adulthood. In spite of that many young report having good health, there are also many who report experiencing mental health problems, as well as stress, negative perceived health and subjective health complaints. Physical inactivity is also increasing among adolescence, and seems to continue during the adolescent period. Further this is the time when they stand the greatest chance of starting to smoke, drink, use drugs etc.
Adolescence is thus a particularly critical time in the development of preventive behavior, where the habits, attitudes and behaviors that are developed will have consequences for health and well-being later in life. It is therefore important to focus on health preventive and promotive strategies that will contribute to a healthy and active life both in adolescence as well as later in life. Focusing on health promotion also has a socio-economical profit in that the resources that are assigned to treatment of illness later in life are reduced. Health promotion among children and adolescents will focus on factors that facilitate health and a healthy life style. It is also important to identify factors and resources that protect against stress, as well as mental and psychosomatic health problems. It will also be relevant to focus on the impact of resilience factors in promoting health and well-being among adolescents.
The best ways to keep the young healthy is to work on which factors and resources young people have or can easily gain to stay healthy as young and later on healthy as a part of the productive work force. The area of Positive working places http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/artikler/forskning/forskning-2009/positive-faktorer-i-arbeidslivet-2013-hvilke-nye-svar-kan-et-annet-fokus-gi deals with the work forces – this area deal with the lifespan in the two ends of the human life. The young and the old. This research area will therefore carry out research aiming on building the theoretical understanding of how to keep the young and old ones in the societies healthy in a way that they can stay productive and live good lives. New approaches to interventions and how to establish effective means in building good health is also important research focuses. And, we also aim at carrying out research that adds richness psychologically, physiologically, socially and spiritually at the very end of life.
This area has important international collaborations like and the LOOK project (http://www.look.org.au/ ) in beside a number of Norwegian Collaborators.
It has during the last years been evidently clear to authorities that we are facing a society in European countries, and in other countries around the world with a western style of living, a growing elderly population. This has two important effects on the ways we will have to think about health in society. It will be increasingly important to keep the work force entering the productive part of the population healthy – and on the other hand we also need to hold the old part of the population (70+) healthy because they will become such a large part of the population.
Health promotion among the ill
Avoiding risk has been the recipe if you want to be healthy. This has been the same whether you are healthy in the first place or are ill. This is a negative and life restricting approach.
Under this research area we are researching how health promotion science and thinking, and salutogenesis thinking can be applied to gain healthy lives for those who suffer from illness or disease. If you want to go somewhere you should aim at the goal you want to reach- healthiness and well-being, not at the one you want to avoid - disease.
The area covers a great number of research projects. Some of them aiming on revealing which qualities of life and well-being characteristics are considered important for cancer patients, in obstructive lung diseases, cardiac patients, patients with head, neck and shoulder pain, among people at the very end of life in nursing homes, – to gain a healthier life and how can this knowledge be applied in broader interventions.
The research goals are the same as in the other areas, how can we better promote health instead on focusing on risks for disease. The research area fully recognises the need for good and effective reparative medicine and good disease care, but points to that the desirable goal are in an opposite direction – and that there is no possibility to research that goal if one focuses on the negative side.
It has also through the last years become increasingly evident to politicians world-wide that there is no way possible to cover all needs for cure – and that have urged politicians to start thinking health promotion and positive health research as means to avoid further rises in disease cure budgets – both in healthy and in diseased.