Occupational Health Psychology
Program Overview
The Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center (ERC) is one of only two National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health ERCs to support a graduate training program in Occupational Health Psychology (OHP).
Occupational Health Psychologists apply the research methods and theories of psychology to protect and promote worker health and safety. Occupational Health Psychology takes a comprehensive view of the work environment, including the way work is organized (e.g. shift work) as well as the "culture" of the organization. Here are some examples of topics that an Occupational Health Psychologist might research:
- Policies and programs that either increase or reduce work-related stress
- The work-related factors that either increase or reduce the occurrence of workplace violence
- The most effective ways to encourage employees to participate in workplace wellness program
Funding
Graduate research assistantships are available on a competitive basis to qualified students. The number of assistantships may vary from year to year depending on the level of research funding.
Faculty Members in Occupational Health Psychology
The OHP Training Program is currently directed by Dr. Lorann Stallones (an Occupational Epidemiologist), with significant contributions from Drs. John Rosecrance (Ergonomist) and Kimberly Henry (Prevention and Statistics). Other collaborators include faculty from the Department of Psychology, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Department of Construction Management, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Department of Journalism and Technical Communication, as well as OHP Advisory Board Members.
OHP Brown Bag Lectures:
Aging of the workforce: The changing nature of Work and Retirement - Dr. Diehl
Cross Cultural Research - Dr. Tetrick
From Fields to Factories - Dr. Mike Flynn
Getting the job is just the first step: Communication and political skills for your first position
Leadership Training - Dr. E. Kevin Kelloway
Occupational Health Disparities - Dr. Donald Eggert
Suicide Intervention and Sustainable Strategies - Annette Shtivelband
The Promise and Challenge of Conducting Stress Intervention Experiments - Daniel Ganster
Work Organization Research at NIOSH: Studies on Job Stress, Aging, and Minority Health
Working with Communities - Alyssa Lasseter
Workplace Violence - Dr. E. Kevin Kelloway
Cortisol and Stress - Melissa Henry, RN, PHD
Dr. Mike Flyn – Occupational Safety and Health of Immigrants
Can We Be Scientific in the Practice of Occupational Health Psychology? - Dr. Ted Scharf
Presentation Slides - Final Version
Current Changes in the Work Environment from an OHP Perspective - Dr. Darja Maslic Sersic
Man Therapy: An Innovative Approach to Preventing Suicide Among Men - Dr. J. Taylor Moore
Qualitative Methods and OHP - Dr. Irvin Schonfeld
Virtual Teams - Dr. Elizabeth Williams
Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) Training Program at Colorado State University
Given the breadth and depth in Psychology and OHP, as well as job prospects, the OHP Training Program at Colorado State University is designed for MS-PhD training in Psychology. The Department of Psychology offers five MS-PhD programs focuses (Applied Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and Perceptual and Brain Sciences), and all students are awarded a master degree in science in the process of obtaining their doctoral degrees. All OHP trainees are admitted from one of the above five graduate programs. All full-time students in the above programs are eligible to apply for the OHP Training Program. Students are considered full-time if they enroll for at least 9 credit hours per semester, and students usually take 9-12 credit hours per semester. According to CSU requirement, graduate students in Department of PSY need to complete at least 72 semester-credit-hours before graduation. Students traditionally obtain approximately 90 credits, which generally takes 4 ½ years to 5 ½ years for students in PSY to obtain their PhD degrees with the major in Psychology.
NIOSH OHP trainees need to fulfill requirements of Colorado State University, Department of Psychology, one of the five MS-PhD programs, and the OHP Training Program. Specifically, the OHP Training Program requires NIOSH trainees to complete the following training components to meet the above requirements: thesis, dissertation, coursework required by Department of Psychology (39 semester credits), coursework required by OHP Training Program (19 semester credits), comprehensive projects (no credit), and other courses required by one of the five MS-PhD programs. The coursework required by OHP Training Program is flexible for students from different backgrounds within PSY and other departments to broaden their understanding of occupational safety and health issues and ultimately to address occupational challenges in a more comprehensive manner. The required courses are listed below.
PSY 792B Occupational Health Psychology (3 credits). This course is designed to address current interdisciplinary issues in occupational health psychology and ergonomics. The seminar provides a lively forum for interdisciplinary topics and discussion among students and faculty. Topics addressed typically include work stress and burnout, coping, stress management, job control and design, counterproductive behaviors (e.g., substance abuse, workplace aggression) contingent, flextime, and shift work practices, work-family management, safety climate, safety leadership, safety motivation, disabilities and return-to-work practices, and organizational change issues. |
EH 540 Principles of Ergonomics (3 credits). This course covers the principles of ergonomics with a focus on the physiological and anatomical capabilities of the worker and the interaction with their work environment. The course will review anthropometry, physiological basis of work, patterns of work, musculoskeletal disorders, risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders, workplace and equipment design, manual materials handling, workplace environment, job analysis, exposure assessment, and ergonomic evaluations. |
PSY 792F Prevention of Occupational Illnesses and Injuries (3 credits). The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of basic public health approaches to the prevention and control of occupational illnesses and injuries. Issues that will be covered include an introduction to the use of epidemiologic approaches to occupational illnesses and injuries, problem identification, and prevention efforts in industry, health departments, and unions. |
PSY 754 Multivariate Analysis (3 credits). This course exposes students a variety of statistical topics including canonical correlation, multivariate analysis of variances, discriminant analysis, factor analysis, logistic regression, hierarchical linear modeling, generalizability theory, and cluster analysis. These statistics courses require the student to complete eight semester hours of graduate statistics (PY 652 and PY653) as a prerequisite. |
PSY786 Practicum (6 credits). Students will participate in field practices or field research supervised by OHP Core/Supporting faculty. The field research may constitute a thesis, a comprehensive project (see below), or a dissertation. We are currently working with multiple facilities including UA Local 208, Sun Microsystems, Kodak, Hewlett Packard, Xcel Energy, Lexmark, Raytheon, Teledyne, Municipal Governments, Department of Human Services, Suicide Resources Center, Universities and School Districts, Department of Transportation in Colorado that have a history of providing practicum projects. |
ERHS 690 Occupational and Environmental Health Interdisciplinary Symposium (1 credit). This interdisciplinary 1 credit course will be offered fall and spring semesters and will be required for all MAP ERC trainees. Topics will include current issues and emerging trends related to occupational and environmental health. The course will offer multiple opportunities for participation. Students will be evaluated on the basis of participation in the required number of activities and performance on interdisciplinary group projects based on a field site visit or research project. Requests to add this to the curriculum have been initiated at CSU and UCD. Until we receive formal university approval for the course, we will implement this as an “experimental course” in fall semester of 2009. |
All graduate students in the Department of Psychology are required to take three methodology courses (11 credits): Introductory Statistics (PY652); Intermediate Statistics (PY653); and Research Methods (PY655, 3 credits). These courses are described below.
PSY652 Introductory Statistics (4 credits). The course contains lecture (3-credit) and SPSS lab (1-credit). The course covers basic probability and sampling theories, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics for between, within, and mixed designs. |
PSY653 Intermediate Statistics (4 credits). The course contains lecture (3-credit) and SPSS lab (1-credit). The course covers theories of correlation and multiple regression, and general linear model. |
PSY655 Research Methods (3 credits). The course focuses on research design including experimental and quasi-experimental design, as well as field research including observation, survey, field experiments. Emphasis is on generating and developing research ideas, evaluating research approaches, and interpreting and reporting research findings. |
There are additional 9 content 3-credit courses, from which the graduate students are required to choose five courses (15 credits). These courses include Advanced Social Psychology, Measurement, Human Performance, Personality, Physiological Psychology, Neuropsychology, Developmental Psychology, Sensation & Perception, and History & Systems. Among five chosen content courses, Measurement (PY 600K), Advanced Social Psychology (PY 600A), and Human Performance (PY 600L) are required by OHP Training Program. The three required courses are described below.
PSY 600K Measurement (3 credits). This course surveys psychological measurement theories including classical test theory, item response theory, generalizability theory, and scaling theories, and practical topics pertaining to item analyses, test and survey development, reliability, validity, and test biases. |
PSY 600A Advanced Social Psychology (3 credits). This course surveys classic and current social psychological theories and research such as social influence, attitudes and persuasion, social cognition and perception. Knowledge of attitude, persuasion, and social cognition are essential while developing health and safety promotion programs. |
PSY 600L Human Performance: Intellectual and Motor Skills (3 credits). This course introduce Engineering Psychology and Human Performance with the emphasis on functions and abilities of information processing subsystems, constraints and limitations that they might impose, as well as ways to improve "human performance". Knowledge of engineering psychology is essential while considering interactions between human-related systems and physical-related systems. |
Graduate students are required to complete a thesis, comprehensive projects, and a dissertation (13-credits) as described below. They must demonstrate competence in theses, comprehensive projects, and dissertation as judged by their Advisory Committee. This committee will consist of a minimum of three members including an advisor. For OHP trainees, the committee consists of at least one OHP core/supporting faculty, a Psychology faculty outside of the advisor’s affiliated graduate program, and a faculty member from another CSU department.
PSY699CV Thesis (4 credits minimum). The purpose of the thesis is to demonstrate that the student has the ability to plan and complete research. This thesis is an opportunity for the student to utilize what he or she has learned in OHP Training Program to develop a cogent and compelling document that furthers understanding in OHP. |
Comprehensive Examination (No credit). There are three components of the comprehensive examination that OHP NIOSH trainees need to complete. These projects ensure that the trainees have acquired skills that enable them to recognize and attempt to solve basic and applied problems. Before beginning work on the three comprehensive projects, the trainees will prepare a proposal to (a) identify their strengths, developmental needs, and present capabilities (“where am I now”), (b) state their career objectives (“where do I want to go”), (c) list career enhancing activities to solidify their strengths and address their developmental needs (“how do I get there”), and (d) describe three comprehensive projects, what are expected to learn, and the plan for completing the projects. This proposal will be reviewed, revised, and approved by the students’ dissertation committee. The three components are: written examination/applied projects, research, and spike of excellence. |
PSY799CV Dissertation (9 credits minimum). The dissertation should contain original thought in the formulation and conduct of research on an OHP-related topic. Original data collection may not be required; existing well-documented databases may be used with appropriate justification. The quality of a dissertation will be judged by the Dissertation Advisory Committee based on oral defense performance and the probability the dissertation could withstand the peer reviewed publication process. Foremost, the dissertation should reflect NIOSH trainees’ contribution to the science of occupational health and safety. |
