Utah Center for Promotion of Work and Employment Research (U-POWER)

ABSTRACT (OVERALL CENTER)
The Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity Research (U-POWER) envisions work and workplaces that are
safe, healthy, and equitable. Together, we can ensure that the conditions of work promote the health and well-
being of workers and communities. The mission of U-POWER is to create a sustainable community of practice
that changes the conditions of work and advances Total Worker Health® (TWH) through research and
outreach. The integrating theme of U-POWER is the role of power in defining work conditions that create and
sustain inequity and ill health among workers. Power is the ability to make what one wants happen, and occurs
because of authority granted by relations, policy, and regulation, and through historical and current ideologies
and norms that create and sustain inequality, including the persistence of work conditions that harm (or
promote) safety, health, and well-being. Work equity refers to equity in who has access to safe, healthy work.
U-POWER posits that interrogation of the role of power in workers’ safety, health, and well-being can illuminate
new opportunities for research, action, and education that yield sustainable, generalized change to promote
work equity and TWH. The aims of U-POWER overall are to: 1) Facilitate a community of practice that shares
the concern of changing the conditions of work and advancing TWH and 2) Advance TWH through innovative
research and outreach, guided by the translational research process and community engagement. Processes
and activities in U-POWER are guided by the values of justice and fair treatment, community, rigor and
relevance, transformation, and participatory decision-making. U-POWER is comprised of: a Planning and
Evaluation Core; an Outreach Core whose activities are guided by adult learning theory and the frameworks of
community-based participatory research and Knowledge to Action; a Research Pilot Project Program; and five
research projects that involve interdisciplinary investigators and span the continuum of translational research to
address issues relevant to TWH and work equity. U-POWER embodies two key priorities of the University of
Utah—to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion and address big societal challenges through cross-campus
collaborations—and, as a result, has garnered significant financial and organizational support.

Grant Number: 5U19OH012304-05
NIH Institute/Center: ALLCDC
Principal Investigator: Emily Ahonen