The Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP) is the first organization in the United States to be devoted to occupational health psychology.[1] It is dedicated to the application of scientific knowledge for the purpose of improving worker health and well-being.[2]

SOHP, together with the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), organizes every two years an international conference dedicated to research and practice in occupational health psychology (OHP).[3][4] The American Psychological Association sponsors an online listserv, with many contributors from SOHP,[2] to promote discussion and information sharing regarding OHP.[3]

History

SOHP is the first organization in the United States to be devoted to OHP.[1] The development of this discipline within psychology and the origins of the society are closely linked.[1]

The American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) jointly organized an International Conference on Work, Stress, and Health in Washington, DC in 1990. At the conference, the individuals who would form the core of SOHP began to get to know each other.[1] Beginning with the conference in 1990, APA and NIOSH arranged a series of Work, Stress, and Health conferences in two- to three-year cycles (now two-year cycles).[5]

In 1996, with the help of some of the conference organizers, APA began publication of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. The European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EA-OHP) was established in 1999. In the U.S., researchers arrived at the idea that the best way to train the next generation would be to create graduate programs in OHP. Beginning in the mid-1990s, APA and NIOSH began to furnish seed grants to stimulate graduate training in OHP.[6] By 2001, there were OHP graduate programs at 11 US universities. Through the 1990s, momentum was developing in terms of institution-building in OHP.[7]

Many of the individuals who participated in the APA/NIOSH conferences also attended the first organizational meeting devoted to the creation of an OHP-related society in the U.S.[5] The meeting was held at the University of South Florida. A follow-up meeting was held at Portland State University that led to the founding of the society.[6] In 2005, at a meeting held at the offices of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Occupational Health Psychology was formally founded, with Leslie Hammer of Portland State University as president. In 2006, the society began to play a role, although a small one, in organizing the Work, Stress, and Health conference held that year. Two years later, the society became a full partner with APA and NIOSH in organizing the Work, Stress, and Health conferences.[6]

In 2006, SOHP, like other learned societies, arranged to publish a newsletter to cover news relevant to the membership. The first edition was published in 2007.[2] In 2008, the society began to coordinate activities, including conference scheduling, with its European counterpart, EA-OHP.[4] In 2017, SOHP began publishing its own journal, Occupational Health Science, under the editorship of Robert Sinclair.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Barling, J., & Griffiths, A. (2010). A history of occupational health psychology. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology, 2nd ed. (pp. 21-34). Washington, DC: APA Books.
  2. 1 2 3 Schonfeld, I.S., & Chang, C.-H. (2017). Occupational health psychology: Work, stress, and health. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
  3. 1 2 Cunningham, C. J., & Jennings Black, K. (2021). Essentials of occupational health psychology. Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
  4. 1 2 Schonfeld, I.S., & Houdmont, J. (2008). EA-OHP summit meeting. The Occupational Health Psychologist, 5(1), 4-5.
  5. 1 2 Hammer, L. B., & Schonfeld, I. S. (2007). The historical development of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP). Newsletter of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 2.
  6. 1 2 3 Spector, P. E. (2023). From occupational fatigue to occupational health. In L. M. Lapierre & C. Cooper (Eds.), Organizational stress and well-being (Cambridge companions to management). (pp. 7-29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. ↑ Tetrick, L.E., Fisher, G.G., Ford, M.T., & Quick, J.C. (2023). Handbook of occupational health psychology (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
  8. ↑ Occupational Health Science.
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