Overview
Occupational mental health; mental illness and employment; psychological assessment; alcohol and other drugs; shift work and fatigue; occupational accidents; hazard control and safety; manual handling, ergonomics and occupational overuse injury; thermal stress.
The Diploma and Master's degree are internationally recognised as meeting the academic requirements for higher professional training for specialist registration in occupational medicine.
About this paper
| Paper title | Health, Work and Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Subject | Aviation Medicine |
| EFTS | 0.25 |
| Points | 30 points |
| Teaching period | Not offered in 2026, expected to be offered in 2027 (Distance learning) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) | $3,486.75 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Limited to
- MOccMed, MAvMed, MHealSc, PGCertOccMed, PGDipOccMed
- Eligibility
Healthcare professionals currently employed, or interested in work, in the aviation medicine or occupational medicine industry.
If you have not already done so, please contact the department for course advice before selecting your programme, oamu@otago.ac.nz.
- Contact
- OAMU@otago.ac.nz
- More information link
- View more information on the Department of Occupational and Aviation Medicine Unit's website
- Teaching staff
- Course Director: Dr Rob Griffiths
- Paper Structure
- Occupational Mental Health and Sickness Absence
- Mental Health and Employment
- Psychological Assessment
- Alcohol and Other Drugs
- Shift Work and Fatigue Risk Management Systems
- Accidents at Work
- Hazard Control and Safety
- Manual Handling
- Ergonomics and Occupational Overuse Injury
- Thermal Stress
- Teaching Arrangements
This Distance Learning paper is taught remotely.
It is taught in odd years in the first semester.
- Textbooks
- Textbooks are not required for this paper.
- Course outline
This paper covers important elements where human behaviour, health, and safety meet with work and the work environment. We look at the effect of work on mental health and the effect of mental illness on fitness to work. Ensuring that an employment applicant can enable their capabilities to be matched to the cognitive demands of work requires evidence-based approaches to psychological assessment. There is a strong focus on hazard control and safety in order to prevent workplace accidents and occupational illness, and this includes risk factors to systems failures involving substance use or fatigue. Human performance factors include physical work activity and demands, including ergonomics.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Communication, Critical thinking, Cultural understanding, Ethics, Environmental literacy, Information literacy, Research, Self-motivation, Teamwork.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
- LO1: Assess and manage mental health conditions that may impact on fitness to work.
- LO2: Describe factors that can influence sickness absence and how it can be measured, monitored and reduced.
- LO3: Apply hazard and safety assessment and management systems to identify factors involved in workplace accident causation.
- LO4: Assess suboptimal ergonomics in the workplace using appropriate ergonomic assessment tools and make recommendations to employers and employees on ergonomic adjustments in the workplace.
- LO5: Assess the risk posed by thermal stressors in the workplace and make recommendations on methods to prevent the adverse health effects of thermal stress.