Miguel Zazo: «Without the vaccine and with such a high incidence, all the hospitals in Aragon would be full»
21 December, 2021
Created a trans-Pyrenean research network on human and animal prion diseases
21 December, 2021
It was born with the aim of ingraining a culture of prevention and helping companies and self-employed people who need advice.
Research groups from the University of Zaragoza, with the support of the Government of Aragon, have launched the Aragonese Network for Permanent Psychosocial Prevention, a multidisciplinary platform for improving working conditions. Numerous associations, social agents and those responsible for prevention attended this morning the official presentation that took place in the Aula Magna of the Paraninfo of the University of Zaragoza.
Participating in the event were Vice-rector for Technological Transfer and Innovation, Glory Cuenca, the General Director of Labor, Self-Employed and Social Economy of the Government of Aragon, Solitude of the Bridge, as well as the Network Manager, the investigator Santiago Gascón. In their interventions they have highlighted the relevance of this new network that seeks promote a culture of prevention of psychosocial risks in organizations in various sectors of Aragon, in addition to sharing methodologies.
La vice chancellor has stressed that "This help network is going to be very useful to make problems visible and solve them before they become more serious than they are." For its part, the CEO has stressed that “psychosocial problems have always been present, and The severity accentuated by the pandemic forces us to collaborate and not separate areas. "Only together can we find the right path to address this issue."
The event has highlighted the experiences that are being carried out in Aragon in this field. From the Administration itself, with the Healthy Business Network, for example, from research groups and chairs, from companies, from associations, etc. The person in charge of the network, researcher Santiago Gascón, has assured that “the transfer of results will allow us to innovate together, create something new, or improve what already exists.”
With this objective, the Aragonese Network for Permanent Psychosocial Prevention (RAPPP I+D+i) was born as a space for exchange, advice and mutual help aimed at companies and self-employed workers, researchers, technicians and people involved in improving working conditions. Gascón explained that "this Network will allow us to know evaluations of psychosocial risks carried out with the same methodology, the results of the interventions and provide the knowledge accumulated in 20 years of research."
With the focus on mental health and its connection with the work environment, the Aragonese Network for Permanent Psychosocial Prevention gives as examples of cases that can find help on this platform: workers in crisis, companies that require evaluation, or want to start a prevention program. For this reason, Santiago Gascón has concluded that "the objective is ambitious, but we would like to reach all companies and all self-employed people, at least so that they know our existence and can resort when they need it."
Intervention on the organizational level of companies and self-employment
The Network defends that psychosocial risks at work should be approached as an organization-wide problem, and not as a weakness of the person, so that it is possible to prevent them like other risks.
Psychosocial risks, they explain from the Network, arise from errors in design, organization and work management, in communication, organization, supervision systems, mismatches between the perception of the individual and the reality of the organization, etc. And to address psychosocial risks, it is necessary to determine, through an evaluation, what aspects may be source of stress.
The intervention at the organizational level (communication systems, workload, participation, etc.) has shown greater achievements than that aimed at improving individual coping strategies, although the combination of both types can offer optimal results, according to the promoters. of the network.
Objectives
Specifically, the RAPPP I+D+i aims to create a self-sustainable network that, with the support of the entities involved, contributes to establish a preventive culture in companies. In this sense, it will provide advice and training to organizations of any size in terms of intervention, prevention and health promotion and generate a database that allows comparability by sector. The diffusion of information and results just like the exchange of experiences in terms of prevention, good practices and awareness campaigns, will be one of the keys and will be channeled through the website created as the main communication platform of the Network: rapppidi.com
In addition, the Aragonese Network for Permanent Psychosocial Prevention will provide training: courses and seminars from the university, specific workshops on modes of intervention, communication systems, conflict management, ways of participation, stress coping techniques, communication skills, etc.
