Integration of health protection and health promotion: rationale, indicators, and metrics.

Abstract

To offer a definition of an "integrated" approach to worker health and operationalize this definition using indicators of the extent to which integrated efforts are implemented in an organization. Guided by the question-How will we know it when we see it?-we reviewed relevant literature to identify available definitions and metrics, and used a modified Delphi process to review and refine indicators and measures of integrated approaches. A definition of integrated approaches to worker health is proposed and accompanied by indicators and measures that may be used by researchers, employers, and workers. A shared understanding of what is meant by integrated approaches to protect and promote worker health has the potential to improve dialogue among researchers and facilitate the research-to-practice process.