Organizational health intervention research in medical settings

Abstract

Medical settings, especially hospitals, represent a challenging environment in which to conduct organizational health interventions. This is due to the fact that healthcare professionals tend to hold pathogenic rather than salutogenic views about health and well-being. Additionally, healthcare professional identity and sense of coherence is deeply embedded in role behaviors (i.e., I am a doctor) rather than organizational awareness (i.e., The purpose of the hospital is…). Worksite health promotion interventions in medical settings, despite their prominent character, have yielded mixed results regarding their effectiveness. One of the major challenges is to be both theoretically sound and, at the same time, context appropriate. The proposed chapter will; (1) conceptualize what a health medical organization (hospital) should look like, (2) review organizational health interventions in medical settings in terms of theoretical focus and practical outcomes, (3) identify the salutogenic factors that promote well-being, (4) review the cultural and contextual factors that are barriers to interventions, and (5) reflect on how health intervention researchers can address process and context (intervention) issues in medical setting. All medical settings will be reviewed, but special focus will be given to hospitals and the use of action research which has been extensively used in medical settings.