What is I-O?

Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work-life balance.

During the summer of 1998, the APA Science Directorate was pleased to present its first awards to three universities to develop graduate-level curricula in occupational health psychology (OHP). Bowling Green State University, Kansas State University, and the University of Minnesota are the inaugural recipients of the awards provided by a cooperative agreement between APA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Occupational health psychology is an emerging specialty within psychology. In the broadest terms, OHP refers to the application of psychology to protecting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of workers, and to improving the quality of worklife. The current cooperative agreement builds on earlier efforts by APA and NIOSH to promote research, education, and training in the field of OHP. These collaborative activities included awards for postdoctoral fellowships, the support of a new journal entitled the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and a series of interdisciplinary conferences on occupational stress and health. The next conference, entitled "Work, Stress, and Health ’99: Organization of Work in a Global Economy," will be held on March 11–13, 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland.[See the Conferences & Meetings section for more details.]

Plans for Bowling Green State University’s program, under the direction of Drs. Carlla Smith and William O’Brien of the psychology department, include a graduate minor in OHP as part of the existing I-O and clinical psychology programs. The minor will consist of coursework, research, and supervised practicum experiences. Bowling Green’s psychology department will collaborate with the Environmental Health Program in the College of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Leon H. Rappoport will guide the program at Kansas State University, which will provide a concentration of courses and practicum/internship work in OHP. The OHP courses will be offered to graduate students in the I-O, human factors, and personality-social psychology programs, with support from other departments.

The OHP program at the University of Minnesota will be led by Dr. Jo-Ida C. Hansen of the psychology department. Their immediate goal is to develop a survey course in OHP that will be integrated into relevant, existing curriculum offered throughout the university. The long-term goal is to develop a minor in OHP. The psychology department will collaborate with the Industrial Relations Center of the Carlson School of Management, the School of Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, and the Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport.

Each university site received approximately $20,000 for their proposals to develop and implement core curricula for graduate students in OHP. The universities anticipate offering their first OHP courses in 1999. Interested students should contact the primary faculty of the universities for more information.

APA Now Accepting Applications for 1999 Funding

The Science Directorate is now accepting applications from universities interested in applying for 1999 funds to develop curricula in OHP. Applications have been mailed to all I-O program chairs in the United States. Proposal selection criteria include faculty qualifications, institutional commitment and external collaborations, proposal quality and feasibility, and the planned program evaluation. Faculty proposals must be accompanied by a budget justification and written documentation from the Dean or other university official that confirms the proposed courses or curricula can be offered at the university. APA anticipates distributing up to $72,000 with awards to new recipients expected to average between $18,000–$22,000. Limited funding may be available for a continuation year. Proposals are due on March 1, 1999. It is anticipated that APA will distribute funds for these awards in April, 1999.

Examples of appropriate training activities under this program include, but are not limited to:

1. expansion of curricula in organizational psychology to provide a focus on organizational risk factors for stress, illness and injury at work, and on intervention strategies;
2. expansion of curricula and practica in clinical psychology to improve the recognition of job stress and its organizational sources;
3. expansion of curricula in human factors engineering to provide more of an exclusive focus on occupational health and safety and
4. increased exposure of behavioral scientists to research methods and practice in public/occupational health and epidemiology.

Vehicles for this training could include a new survey course or clusters of courses, graduate minor or masters/doctoral degree programs, or practica or internship experiences at the predoctoral level. Because training in work organization, stress and health is an inherently multidisciplinary area, these training experiences should draw upon and integrate knowledge and faculty from several relevant areas, such as psychology, management, public health, human factors engineering, occupational medicine, and epidemiology.

Individuals and departments interested in obtaining application materials should contact Adonia Calhoun at APA, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002–4242 (E-mail address: acalhoun@apa.org). Applications can also be found on the APA web site at http://www.apa.org/science/ohp.html.

TIP

Vol. 36/No. 3  January, 1999

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