# Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest

> **NIH ALLCDC U19** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $1,050,128

## Abstract

The states in Federal Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri) disproportionately suffer from higher
burdens of occupational injury and illness and higher rates of unhealthy behaviors compared to other regions
of the country. Our predominately rural region also has high rates of poverty and lower healthcare access. The
opioid epidemic and suicide have disproportionately affected the construction industry. Work patterns have
shifted due to technology and economic forces, accelerated by the pandemic, which has led to increased
remote work and increased stress on frontline workers, including nursing home workers. The experienced
interdisciplinary team of the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest will address these and other health
issues through research, outreach, and education. The Center's vision is to create a safe, healthy, and
productive workforce and will be achieved through basic and applied research, a participatory approach, and
theory driven educational and translational activities. The Center is a collaboration between the University of
Iowa, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Kansas Medical Center, WorkWell Kansas, and two
NIOSH Total Worker Health Affiliates, the Nebraska Safety Council and the St. Louis Area Business Health
Coalition. The Center includes an Evaluation and Planning Core, which provides coordination, leadership,
evaluation, and an emerging issues program; an Outreach Core that translates evidence based findings and
provides education; and a Research Core which includes two large research projects: Preventing Suicide and
Promoting Mental Health in Construction Workers and Supervising the Future of Remote Workers: Promoting
Supervisor and Worker Well-being, two small research projects: Refining Workplace Opioid Guidelines for
Dissemination through a Social Marketing Approach and Implementation of Total Worker Health in Rural
Nursing Homes, and a Pilot Program that explicitly promotes career development and capacity building of
community and academic partners. Recognizing the greater impact of organizational changes, proposed Cores
focus not only on changes at the individual worker level, but also policies and programs to change work climate
and culture. The Center will address emerging issues and high-risk, high-need populations in employers of all
sizes targeting NIOSH strategic goals and priority populations. Center activities will broadly address NIOSH
Strategic Goal 7: promote safe and healthy work design and well-being, and most goals of the NIOSH TWH
Agenda, including all of the intermediate goals and a majority of the activity goals under Strategic Goals 1
(Research), 2 (Practice), 3 (Policy), and 4 (Capacity Building).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10852809
- **Project number:** 5U19OH008868-19
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Diane S Rohlman
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,050,128
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10852809

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10852809, Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest (5U19OH008868-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10852809. Licensed CC0.

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