Current situation and perspective of future in the study of the job stress: the Psychology of the Occupational Health.

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, major changes have taken place in the context of the organizations and workplaces. These sociodemographic, economic,  political, and technological changes have had an impact on organizational  processes and job design and, in turn, they have generated emergent  psychosocial risks that have a negative influence on the workers’ safety,  health, well-being, and quality of working life; because they increase the  occupational stress levels. The aim of this study is to present the  challenges and opportunities these changes offer to psychologists. The  study is divided into four points: (1) the first point presents some of the  main consequences of job stress for individuals and organizations, (2) the second presents an overview of the main models to study the job stress in recent years, taking into consideration the job-person fit, (3) in the next  section presents the objectives and topics of the Occupational Health Psychology (OHP), and the Spanish research groups most relevant that  are contributing to the development of that discipline, (4) the paper  concludes with some final considerations for researchers and practitioners that may benefit both employee well-being and organizational  effectiveness, providing job opportunities for practitioners psychologists.