Project

Occupational and organizational psychology for occupational health care professionals

The project will create a free-of-charge training in occupational and organizational psychology. The training is aimed at occupational health care professionals to help them better understand the operating principles of different workplaces, the dynamics of work communities and challenging situations related to work communities at workplaces. Strengthening competencies improves the ability of occupational health care teams to engage in effective occupational health co-operation, which will in turn provide Finnish workplaces with even better help from occupational health care in solving challenging work community situations.

The webinar series will be launched in early 2027.

Take the survey and make a difference!

Help us put together a training package that meets the needs of occupational health professionals. Respond to the survey and share experiences of your own work.

What kind of challenging situations have you encountered in the work community and occupational health co-operation?
What topics related to the dynamics and challenges of work communities would you like to learn more about?
You can also tell us what other topics that affect occupational health co-operation in challenging situations you would like to the training to address.

Please participate in the survey by 18 September. The survey is in Finnish.

Take the survey (in Finnish)

Timetable

4/2026–3/2027

Objectives

The goal is to strengthen the professional competence of occupational health nurses, occupational health physicians and occupational physiotherapists in matters related to the operating principles of different organizations and work community dynamics.

People who work in health care are often under pressure to act as experts. However, in challenging work community situations, there is a need to understand the situation and consider possible solutions together. The training strengthens the competence of occupational health care professionals.

After completing the training, professionals in occupational health co-operation will be able to:

assess and resolve challenging situations in the work community together with workplaces even better.
recognise situations in which the work community could benefit from the competence of an occupational psychologist
identify when it is advisable to refer the assessment of a challenging situation to an occupational psychologist.

In addition, the training provides information and competence in:

the fundamentals of the operations of different workplaces and issues related to the dynamics of work communities.
working with challenging situations in occupational health co-operation.

Data and methods

Occupational health care teams co-operate with a wide range of workplaces and organizations. Occupational health care professionals must be able to adapt their own ways of working to the needs of customer organizations. Basic knowledge in occupational and organizational psychology improves the preparedness of occupational health care professionals to engage in high-quality and effective occupational health co-operation.

Challenging situations at the workplace often have a strong impact on employees’ coping at work and well-being at work. That is when workplaces need the help of occupational health care. When occupational health nurses, occupational health physicians and occupational physiotherapists have sufficient expertise in occupational and organizational psychology, they can act more skillfully in situations and workplaces receive even better help with challenges that threaten work ability and coping in the work community.

Results and impact

Occupational health care professionals are better prepared to act in challenging situations related to occupational health co-operation.
Occupational health care knows how to refer the most challenging work community situations to an occupational health psychologist at the right time.
Finnish workplaces will benefit from even more competent occupational health co-operation. The work ability of employees and the smoothness of work in work communities improve.