*3.3. Integration of OSH and HP*

In each of the PIP centers, the staff members who joined the teams readily voiced acceptance of the integration concept, i.e., that the obstacles to good health resided both in and outside the work environment. Issues related to both OSH and HP were identified in team meetings. These issues largely mirrored the results of the focus groups at the same centers. The discussions within each team, facilitated by the researchers, demonstrated their operational grasp of the connection between work organization, psychosocial stressors, and personal well-being. Many activities that they carried out represented on-going and systemic attempts to address these concerns in the work environment (Table 3). These included improvements in the workplace through mechanisms for enhanced communication, provision or improvement of employee break rooms and relaxation areas, ergonomics training, and provision of healthy food for staff at a reasonable cost.

**Table 3.** Activities carried out by staff PIP teams (Intervention centers) and wellness champions (Control centers) during the study period, 2008–2012.


At intervention center I-3, when the PIP team spearheaded a gardening project, the original motivation was healthy eating. The team members then also used the garden project as a prototype for developing good proposals and presenting them to management for support and funding. Once it began, they discovered that the garden had many other benefits, including team-building, communications, exercise, stress relief, and a potential for fresh produce for residents as well as staff.

In contrast, in the NPHP centers, there were no projects designed to address up-stream work organization, psychosocial stressors, ergonomics, or work environment factors. Activities tended to support individual behavior change, e.g., coping, relaxation, and exercise (such as softball games). Correspondingly, none of the interviewed wellness champions in these centers demonstrated an understanding of how features of the job or workplace might influence health behaviors, or any vision as to what integration of OSH and HP might entail.
