Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest

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The states in Federal Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri) disproportionately suffer from higher burdens of occupational injury and illness and higher rates of unhealthy behaviors compared to other regions of the country. Our predominately rural region also has high rates of poverty and lower healthcare access. The opioid epidemic and suicide have disproportionately affected the construction industry. Work patterns have shifted due to technology and economic forces, accelerated by the pandemic, which has led to increased remote work and increased stress on frontline workers, including nursing home workers. The experienced interdisciplinary team of the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest will address these and other health issues through research, outreach, and education. The Center's vision is to create a safe, healthy, and productive workforce and will be achieved through basic and applied research, a participatory approach, and theory driven educational and translational activities. The Center is a collaboration between the University of Iowa, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Kansas Medical Center, WorkWell Kansas, and two NIOSH Total Worker Health Affiliates, the Nebraska Safety Council and the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition. The Center includes an Evaluation and Planning Core, which provides coordination, leadership, evaluation, and an emerging issues program; an Outreach Core that translates evidence based findings and provides education; and a Research Core which includes two large research projects: Preventing Suicide and Promoting Mental Health in Construction Workers and Supervising the Future of Remote Workers: Promoting Supervisor and Worker Well-being, two small research projects: Refining Workplace Opioid Guidelines for Dissemination through a Social Marketing Approach and Implementation of Total Worker Health in Rural Nursing Homes, and a Pilot Program that explicitly promotes career development and capacity building of community and academic partners. Recognizing the greater impact of organizational changes, proposed Cores focus not only on changes at the individual worker level, but also policies and programs to change work climate and culture. The Center will address emerging issues and high-risk, high-need populations in employers of all sizes targeting NIOSH strategic goals and priority populations. Center activities will broadly address NIOSH Strategic Goal 7: promote safe and healthy work design and well-being, and most goals of the NIOSH TWH Agenda, including all of the intermediate goals and a majority of the activity goals under Strategic Goals 1 (Research), 2 (Practice), 3 (Policy), and 4 (Capacity Building).