OHP and Total Worker Health® Graduate Training

Our Program

The OHP Total Worker Health (TWH) Program is part of Portland State University's Applied Psychology program. Many of our trainees are in the Industrial-Organizational area. Please see the PSU I-O Psychology page for more details.  The OHP-TWH program focuses on the application of psychology to protect and promote workers’ safety, health, and well-being, to improve workers' quality of worklife, and reduce occupational stress. The program prepares students for careers as consultants, educators, and staff for business, labor, public, academic, community, and health organizations. The OHP-TWH program at Portland State has been funded by Training Program Grants from NIOSH since 2003.

As part of our OHP-TWH program, students complete relevant coursework both within and outside the Psychology department. Our OHP-TWH students embody the scientist-practitioner model through their work designing, conducting, and disseminating findings from applied research projects and working with community partners to solve real-world issues. In addition, our students are helping to shape the future of OHP through active participation in organizations such as the Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP), including serving as graduate student committee members, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

OHP-TWH Training

OHP-TWH training is available to students in all areas of psychology as well as students from other fields. The OHP-TWH graduate curriculum currently serves as a minor area within our Applied Psychology Ph.D. program. The program prepares students for professional practice in industrial, governmental, and public service organizations and for research and teaching in academic institutions. All NIOSH-funded trainees are currently required to be enrolled as full-time students in this program. In terms of credits, NIOSH trainees complete an OHP/TWH-related internship, a dissertation related to OHP-TWH, OHP-TWH required coursework, and OHP-TWH electives.