Most people relate the issue of promoting health in the workplace to employer-sponsored programs aimed at insuring the mental and physical well-being of their employees. Research demonstrates that companies with positive employee mental and physical health reported higher levels of customer satisfaction, profitability, productivity, and employee retention.1 Increasing legislation covering occupational health, safety, discrimination, and workplace relations as well as the rising share of health insurance costs borne by the employer all necessitate advanced measures on the part of companies to insure employee health.2 While employer-sponsored programs are certainly an important component of promoting health in the workplace, the issue is actually much more complex. Occupational health as a topic of consideration must include attention to the individual needs of the entire workforce. While employer-sponsored wellness or health education programs deserve recognition, too often these programs neglect minority populations by failing to consider demographic and cultural differences. Employees of varying ages and of different cultural heritages have unique occupational health challenges; employers must consider their individual needs and resist the desire to have one program cover all those employed. This issue of Family & Community Health presents a series of articles examining workplace health with a different focus than much of the current writings on this subject matter. In particular, the articles included focus on minority issues often neglected by employers when considering their workforce. Included articles cover not only cultural minorities, but also school-aged workers who have their own set of individual workplace needs.
Within this journal, 3 articles present arguments as to how the current design of many occupational health programs fail to adequately protect minority workers. Thompson, Smith, and Bypee's article focuses on the need to design culturally sensitive and appropriate worksite wellness programs to encourage participation by minority and underserved populations. Brunette's article sets forth research findings on how to effectively design, develop, as well as disseminate safety and health education materials targeted to Hispanic construction workers. The Salazar et al. article focuses on the particular occupational hazards faced by Hispanic orchard workers. Two articles explore the impact of workplace health issues faced by teen and student employees. Zierold, Garman, and Anderson's article compares school performance and behaviors among working and nonworking high school students; the article demonstrates that while working a moderate amount of hours did not affect grade point average or absenteeism, those students who work were significantly more likely to cut classes and not participate in extracurricular activities. The article by Linker et al. presents information on a Washington State program called Health and Safety Awareness for Working Teens that is aimed at educating working adolescents in an effort to reduce work-related injuries by that population. The Chan et al. article examines the psychological and physical impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong on nurses treating the disease within hospitals, and highlights the need to design hospital support systems as well as occupational health policies to promote the well-being of nurses treating infectious diseases.
Most likely each person who reads this issue of Family & Community Health is involved in a working environment of some kind; I hope that the articles will cause you to examine current occupational health practices to insure that all employees are receiving the support they need to prosper in their working environment. After all, many people spend 8+ hours per day working, and this is a sizable portion of a person's life.
Jeanette Lancaster
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