The practical theory of occupational health planning: Part two - The theoretical background from the priority setting procedure to the post project appraisal making procedure (OPST research report 3)

This report focuses on the final six procedures of the 8-stage OPPSS. The first two procedures were covered in an earlier report. This examines the theoretical underpinnings of these six procedures. In the Priority Setting procedure, three factors are compared (TCP, Time/timing, cost, and population) for the OPSS in the general community, and also those in industry. These sometimes differ, especially with respect to responsibility and implementation. TCP allows the appropriate factors to be considered for a more objective prioritization of the various factors. As discussed earlier, the first TCP is used for prioritizing occupational health problems through the Needs assessment procedure. The second TCP prioritizes the countermeasures of those problems selected in the first TCP. In the Program Design procedure, we discuss the MIO (Merit, Impact, Outcome). Merit is defined as the effectiveness of a program as reviewed by the company, taking into account the managerial and social merits. Impact refers to the behavioral effectiveness and behavioral change from the viewpoint of the program designer. Outcome refers to the effectiveness of the program from the traditional medical and epidemiology viewpoint. The study goes on to discuss the relationship amongst participation level, program development, and the subject's compliance, as a means to ensure that subjects participate indirectly through both steps of OHQ. In the presentation procedure, we summarize the flow of effective presentations in the company setting. This covers initial understanding of the target audience wants, together with what the planner wants to focus on. In this way common issues and themes can be developed. Further assistance is given with strategy formation, presentation aids, time category presentations, evaluation and feedback. In the process and final evaluation procedures, we discuss the objectives, and their significance to the overall process. In the post project appraisal making procedures, the previous three procedures are strongly affected by each proceeding procedure. In OPSS, we did not include the program development step in a program design procedure because the development skills can be referred from behavioral sciences methodologies. In the final part of this paper, we discuss the merits of the underlying theories of behavioral sciences, which have potential to apply to the occupational health settings.