Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity (U-POWER)

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ABSTRACT (OVERALL CENTER) The Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity Research (U-POWER) envisions work and workplaces that are safe, healthy, and equitable. Together, we can ensure that the conditions of work promote the health and well- being of workers and communities. The mission of U-POWER is to create a sustainable community of practice that changes the conditions of work and advances Total Worker Health® (TWH) through research and outreach. The integrating theme of U-POWER is the role of power in defining work conditions that create and sustain inequity and ill health among workers. Power is the ability to make what one wants happen, and occurs because of authority granted by relations, policy, and regulation, and through historical and current ideologies and norms that create and sustain inequality, including the persistence of work conditions that harm (or promote) safety, health, and well-being. Work equity refers to equity in who has access to safe, healthy work. U-POWER posits that interrogation of the role of power in workers’ safety, health, and well-being can illuminate new opportunities for research, action, and education that yield sustainable, generalized change to promote work equity and TWH. The aims of U-POWER overall are to: 1) Facilitate a community of practice that shares the concern of changing the conditions of work and advancing TWH and 2) Advance TWH through innovative research and outreach, guided by the translational research process and community engagement. Processes and activities in U-POWER are guided by the values of justice and fair treatment, community, rigor and relevance, transformation, and participatory decision-making. U-POWER is comprised of: a Planning and Evaluation Core; an Outreach Core whose activities are guided by adult learning theory and the frameworks of community-based participatory research and Knowledge to Action; a Research Pilot Project Program; and five research projects that involve interdisciplinary investigators and span the continuum of translational research to address issues relevant to TWH and work equity. U-POWER embodies two key priorities of the University of Utah—to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion and address big societal challenges through cross-campus collaborations—and, as a result, has garnered significant financial and organizational support.