An Integrated Approach to Hearing Preservation Among Construction Workers

 描述(由申请人提供)：作为一名工业卫生员和职业流行病学家，我在识别与工作相关的疾病和暴露所需的方法和技能方面拥有坚实的基础。然而，作为职业健康领域的学术带头人，我需要更好地了解如何预防职业病和接触。我的职业发展目标是扩大我在职业健康心理学、干预研究以及NIOSH听力损失和全员健康(TWHTM)跨行业领域的培训。我将实现以下职业目标：1.了解个人和组织因素如何影响工人的暴露和健康；在设计、实施和评估职业健康干预措施方面获得专门知识和培训；通过重点关注听力损失，完善和应用多学科框架，以识别和预防职业病，并将工业卫生和流行病学方法纳入干预措施的评价；以及利用多学科框架确保赠款资金，以确定预防职业病和创造更健康工作场所的新方法。这些目标将在强大的导师团队的支持下实现，其中包括NIOSH资助的新英格兰劳动力健康促进中心(TWHTM中心)的内科教授兼联席主任Martin Cherniack博士，以及职业健康心理学强大项目中的教授Robert Henning博士。根据我的职业发展目标，这项研究提案的总体目标是实施和评估通过员工积极参与提供的综合听力损失预防计划(IHLPP)。噪声引起的听力损失(NIHL)在许多行业仍然是一个普遍存在的问题，尽管美国的监管努力。我的中心假设是，IHLPP吸引员工积极参与培训和暴露监测和控制，并将健康保护与健康促进进行规划整合，将显著提高听力保护计划(HCP)的有效性。采用随机设计，车库接受传统的HCP或IHLPP，这项研究将与康涅狄格州交通部一起进行，针对Nora运输、仓储和公用事业部门。这项建议有三个具体目标：1)评估TWHTM框架内参与式培训的有效性；2)评估积极参与噪声暴露监测和控制的有效性；以及3)评估保护和促进整体听力健康的综合HCP的有效性。这项工作的成果包括确定基于证据的听力健康计划要素，使工人能够从事健康保护和促进行为，同时解决导致听力损失的工作和非工作风险因素。最重要的是，该项目旨在通过减少噪声暴露，增加健康保护和促进行为，最终减少NIHL，来维持工人的听力健康。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Trained as an industrial hygienist and occupational epidemiologist, I have a solid foundation in the methods and skills necessary to recognize work related diseases and exposure. However, to be an academic leader in occupational health, I need to better understand how to prevent occupational disease and exposure. My career development goal is to expand my training in occupational health psychology, intervention research, and the NIOSH cross-sector areas of hearing loss and Total Worker HealthTM (TWHTM). I will accomplish the following career goals: 1.) Learn how individual and organizational factors influence worker exposures and health; 2.) Gain expertise and training in designing, implementing, and evaluating occupational health interventions; 3.) Refine and apply, through a focus on hearing loss, a multi-disciplinary framework for recognizing and preventing occupational diseases integrating industrial hygiene and epidemiological approaches into the evaluation of interventions; and 4.) Use a multi-disciplinary framework to secure grant funding to identify new methods for preventing occupational diseases and creating healthier workplaces. These goals will be accomplished with the support of a strong mentor team including Dr. Martin Cherniack, a physician professor and co-Director of the NIOSH funded Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workforce (a TWHTM center), and Dr. Robert Henning, a professor within a robust program in Occupational Health Psychology. In hand with my career development goals, the overall objective of the research proposal is to implement and assess an integrated hearing loss prevention program (IHLPP) delivered through active employee participation. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) remains a pervasive problem in many industries despite regulatory efforts in the United States. My central hypothesis is that an IHLPP that enlists the active participation of employees in training and exposure monitoring and control, and with programmatic integration of health protection with health promotion, will substantially improve hearing conservation program (HCP) effectiveness. Using a randomized design where garages receive either a traditional HCP or IHLPP, the study will be conducted with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, addressing the NORA Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities Sector. This proposal has three specific aims: 1) To evaluate the effectiveness of a participatory approach to training within the TWHTM framework; 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of active participation in noise exposure monitoring and control; and 3) to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated HCP that protects and promotes total hearing health. Outcomes of this work include the identification of evidence-based program elements for hearing health that enable workers to engage in health protective and promoting behaviors while addressing work and non-work risk factors for hearing loss. Most important, this project seeks to maintain workers' hearing health by reducing noise exposures, increasing health protective and promoting behaviors and ultimately to reduce NIHL.