State of the Art: Psychosocial Factors at Work in the Asia-Pacific – Detailed Study Notes

Overview of the Source Chapter

• Focuses on psychosocial factors at work in the Asia–Pacific (AP) region.

• Extends the first volume “Psychosocial Factors at Work in the Asia Pacific” (Dollard et al., $2014$).

• Emphasises: building a region-specific evidence base, testing new/emerging theory, and providing practical management insights.

• Addresses the research gap: most psychosocial-work studies originate in Europe/North America; their direct transferability to AP remains uncertain.

Introduction – Work, Health & Human Rights

• Work can promote health, yet poor conditions erode it.

• $2008$ Seoul Declaration: safe & healthy work is a fundamental human right.

• Large inter-/intra-country discrepancies in worker health and exposure to risk within AP.

• Psychosocial hazards = organisational, managerial, relational, and job-design factors capable of psychological/physical harm (Cox & Griffiths $2005$).

• Common hazards: poor climate, high pressure, job insecurity, bullying, violence, generic work stress.

Key Knowledge Gaps & Challenges

• Only about $10\%$ of the English-language occupational-health-psychology literature derives from AP (Kang et al. $2008$).

• Limited awareness hampers policy & service development, esp. in non-industrialised settings (Houtman et al. $2007$).

• AP diversity complicates the adoption of “one-size-fits-all” tools; culturally adapted measures are required.

Defining the Asia–Pacific Region

• Combined ILO Asia & Pacific + WHO Western Pacific + WHO South-East Asia regions + Taiwan.

• Total of $42$ named areas (see Table $1.1$) ranging from Afghanistan to Timor-Leste.

• Encompasses advanced, emerging, and developing economies; also holds roughly two-thirds of the world’s poor.

Macro Forces Shaping Work in AP

• Globalisation & neoliberal policies → greater competition, labour-market instability, precarious contracts.

• Organisational responses: lean production, downsizing, flatter structures, long hours, intensified work, poor work–life balance.

• Job design remains a pivotal preventive lever, but high job insecurity often makes any job preferable to unemployment in developing settings.

Multilevel Perspective (Fig. $1.2$)

• Management must integrate:

  • External/macrosocial factors (politics, inequality, national policy).

  • Organisational factors (climate, design, leadership).

  • Individual factors (health, coping).

Asia-Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work (APA-PFW)

• Founded $2012$ after a series of expert meetings (Darwin $2010$ ➜ Johor Bahru $2011$ ➜ Tokyo $2012$).

• Mission: unite academics, practitioners & policy-makers to foster healthy work arrangements.

• Multidisciplinary; formal executive & advisory boards listed (e.g., Pres. Prof. Maureen Dollard).

• Signed $16\,04\,2014$ MoU with European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP). Scope: joint scientific & professional collaboration.

• Linked to International Society of Behavioral Medicine; special journal issue $2014$.

Core Academy Outputs (to date)

1. Special Issue, International Journal of Stress Management (early $2014$).

2. Australian Research Council grant on physical & psychosocial safety (UniSA & Uni Malaya).

3. First book (Dordrecht: Springer, $2014$).

4. Second book (current volume, $2016$).

Chronology of Expert Workshops & Conferences

• 1st – Darwin: $8$–$9$ Jul $2010$, $21$ experts, set initial agenda.

• 2nd – Johor Bahru: $7$–$8$ Jul $2011$, $28$ delegates, broadened network.

• 3rd – Tokyo: $3$ Aug $2012$, official launch of APA-PFW, $46$ attendees.

• 4th – Ayutthaya (Thailand): $28$–$29$ Nov $2013$, $35$ participants, Thai massage cultural event; focus on participatory action-oriented training.

• 5th – Adelaide (ICOH-WOPS): $17$–$19$ Sep $2014$, international congress; themes included productivity links, developing-country research, hot topics (bullying, ageing). Featured pre-conference workshops (longitudinal designs, meta-theory, precarious employment) and keynote lectures (Karasek, Kawakami, Leka, Parker). Introduced interactive “Burning Questions” panel.

• 6th – Seoul (Joint with KSOS): $30$ May $2015$, theme: suicide & psychosocial health; $26$ experts; debated IPD meta-analysis; initiated discussion on region-wide accredited training program; best poster on mental-health program for the unemployed.

• 7th – Shanghai planned Oct $2016$ (Prof. Junming Dai host).

Highlights of the Second Book (Current Volume)

• Six parts: Introduction; Policy/Practice Frameworks; Psychosocial Factors; Practical Approaches to Healthy Workplaces/Workers; Practical Risk-Management Approaches; Conclusions.

• $46$ authors from $7$ AP countries; explicit goal = build regional research capacity by encouraging cross-country co-authorship.

Part II – Policy & Practice Frameworks

• Ch. $2$ (Leka & Jain): international regulatory vs. non-binding approaches; practical tools; evaluation of balance.

• Ch. $3$ (Tsutsumi & Shimazu): guidelines for primary prevention; three strategies—workplace improvement, self-care, supervisor training.

• Ch. $4$ (Bailey et al.): focus-group comparison of Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand; reveals regulatory disparities.

• Ch. $5$ (Park): South-Korean case study on cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease; guideline progress vs. job-stress management lag.

Part III – Psychosocial Factors Research

• Ch. $6$: narrative review on Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC); only $13$ PSC papers vs. $75$ general safety-climate papers; calls for multilevel & longitudinal research.

• Ch. $7$: work-design theory—motivation and safety perspectives; future challenges under uncertainty/complexity.

• Ch. $8$: Taiwanese workplace violence surveys $2010$ ($N=17\,286$) & $2013$ ($N=18\,030$); analyses by gender, occupation, neighbourhood climate; multilevel mental-health effects.

• Ch. $9$: MSDs among Malaysian vs. Australian office workers; similar prevalence but differing psychosocial contributors; qualitative coping data for Malaysian women.

• Ch. $10$: Cross-cultural PSC validation (Iran n=$257$, Australia n=$239$); explorations of group-level variance and downstream job-design links.

Part IV – Developing Healthy Workplaces & Workers

• Ch. $11$: critical review of $11$ publicly available psychosocial-risk toolkits (EU, Canada, Australia); aligns with WHO Global Plan of Action $2008$–$2017$.

• Ch. $12$: New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (New BJSQ) – $84$-item standard, $63$-item recommended, $23$-item short versions; combines with existing $57$-item core; field-tested reliability/construct validity.

• Ch. $13$: Malaysian studies on coping & organisational interventions; endorses coping-skills training to fulfil legal (OSHA $1994$) & CSR duties.

• Ch. $14$: Internet-based CBT (iCBT) for workplace mental-health promotion; reviews three trials and feasibility for remote delivery.

• Ch. $15$: Quasi-experimental simulation shows organisational support cues mitigate stigma towards depressed employees and shape performance ratings.

Part V – Managing Psychosocial Risk: Field Cases

• Ch. $16$: Mental-health activities in Japanese small & micro enterprises; identifies limited resources and suggests tailored interventions.

• Ch. $17$: Worker health after Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident ($11$ Mar $2011$); catalogues physical/psychosocial issues and lessons for future disasters.

• Ch. $18$: Integrates Guanxi (Chinese interpersonal obligation) into JD-R model; explores its stressor role and well-being effects.

• Ch. $19$: Psychosocial demands/resources in Australian remote mining; addresses FIFO (fly-in/fly-out) challenges for workers & families.

Part VI – Conclusions & Future Directions

• Synthesises evidence; sets agenda for research, interventions, and policy across AP.

• Emphasises ethically grounded, context-specific solutions, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and translation of evidence to practice.

Practical & Ethical Implications

• Need for culturally sensitive tools (e.g., language adaptation, local reference values).

• Ethical imperative: address inequities between developed and developing AP countries; protect vulnerable groups (informal workers, women, migrant labour).

• Practical guidance: PSC framework, job-design interventions, coping-skills training, iCBT scalability, integrated mental-health guidelines.

Connections to Foundational Principles & Previous Literature

• Builds on JD-R (Schaufeli & Bakker $2004$), Demand–Control (Karasek), and PSC (Dollard & Bakker $2010$) theories.

• Aligns with WHO and ILO global plans, complements European OHP standards via the APA-PFW/EAOHP MoU.

Key Numbers, Dates & Facts (Quick Reference)

• Region: $42$ areas.

• Literature: only $10\%$ of global OHP in English from AP.

• Academy founded $2012$; MoU with EAOHP signed $16$ Apr $2014$.

• Workshops: Darwin $2010$, Johor Bahru $2011$, Tokyo $2012$, Ayutthaya $2013$, Adelaide $2014$, Seoul $2015$, Shanghai $2016$.

Suggested Exam Focus Areas

• Definitions & examples of psychosocial hazards.

• Rationale for region-specific research & tool adaptation.

• Function & structure of APA-PFW; significance of MoU with EAOHP.

• PSC concept: definition, empirical status, future research gaps.

• Comparative policy landscapes (Australia vs. Taiwan vs. Malaysia vs. Thailand vs. South Korea).

• Intervention typologies: primary (work redesign), secondary (coping/iCBT), tertiary (return-to-work support).

• Case studies: Fukushima response; remote mining demands; Guanxi as a cultural stressor.