Research & Publications

The Center’s research focuses on Salutogenesis in working life as a particularly challenging and fast-changing context for health. Currently, we address four topics:

Scope: The general sense of coherence is the key personal health resource identified by Aaron Antonovsky. Our research group adapted this concept to the working context, leading to the work-related sense of coherence. Further, we are interested in the role of resources in developing positive health at work.
Projects:

• Work-related sense of coherence – further validation
• Positive health development at work – conceptualization and development of measures

• Sustaining work ability in MS patients – the role of health resources and of wellbeing

Scope: in fast-changing economies and organizations, teams constitutes the key, immediate context in which working conditions are continuously re-created and in which situation-specific, salutogenic improvements can be achieved. Focusing on team-level, digital interventions considers trends towards collaborative leadership, dynamic teams in agile companies and digitalization of work.
Projects:

• Development of the wecoach – a digital coach for leaders and their teams to improve job resources and job demands on the team level www.wecoach.ch

• Effectiveness study of the wecoach – a cluster RCT combined with context, process and outcome evaluation (coming soon)

• Measures for process evaluation in organizational level health interventions

Scope: Employees in health care face major challenges due to an aging society, primacy of patient outcomes, shortage of qualified staff, or economic pressure. We examine which resources are particularly relevant for promoting positive health in health care workers – and how these resources can be strengthened.
Projects:

• Implementing lean management  in healthcare: effects on psychosocial working conditions and employee health
• Salutogenic leadership- and team-development in health care (coming soon): adopting and testing a digital coach www.wecoach.ch

Scope: Flexible work requires more conscious, self-determined crafting of work and private life. This research will identify particularly salutogenic crafting behaviors and patterns. This will inform the development of a software app helping to mature personal crafting styles.
Projects:

• Health impact of crafting flex work - the prevalence and differential health effects of crafting the job, work-life boundaries and recovery in face of flexible work
• Development of a software app for crafting flexible work (in planning)