BONGKYOO CHOI, ScD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
University of California Irvine
5201 California Ave. Suite 100, Irvine, CA, 92617
Phone: 1-949-824-5130
Fax: 1-978-824-2345
email: b.choi@uci.edu
BongKyoo Choi ScD, MPH, Consultant for the Center for Social Epidemiology, is currently Associate Professor for the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California Irvine. He received his ScD from University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is collaborating with Dr. Peter Schnall and Dr. Marnie Dobson at the UC Irvine Center for Occupational and Environmental Health on occupational health survey projects with CWA, HERE and the Orange County Fire Authority and IAFF Local 3631. His research interests focus on work, obesity, and work organization/psychosocial stressors and mental health outcomes.
BongKyoo Choi collaborated with the Center on several projects during 2010. First, he published two papers in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and the International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health on work and obesity.
Second, he was awarded a 2-year grant on work and obesity in firefighters from the CDC/NIOSH and submitted abstracts on the issue to the 2011 APA/NIOSH conference. His other research on work and obesity using a US national dataset was well received at the 2010 ICOH-WOPS conference, Amsterdam and received the Best Abstract Award (see Abstract) as well as at the 2010 Global Obesity Summit, Jackson, MS where it won the New Investigator Travel Award (see Abstract). In addition, he submitted a critical comment to NIH on their draft strategies for research into obesity.
Third, he translated the book, “Unhealthy Work”, into Korean with the Korean Society of Occupational Stress. The Korean version was published in September 2010, Seoul, Korea by GyeChuk Mun Wha Sa (Publisher).
Fourth, he taught graduate students at UCLA on work and obesity at one session of the course, “Work and Health” (EHS M270/CHS 278 at UCLA).
SELECTED REFERENCES
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Karasek RA, Choi B, Ostergren PO, Ferrario M, De Smet P. (2007). Testing two methods of comparable scale scoring between the JCQ and JCQ-like Questionnaires in the JACE study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 14(4), 189-201.
Choi B, Kawakami N, Chang SJ, Koh SB, Bjorner J, Punnett L, Karasek R. (2008). A cross-national study on the multidimensional characteristics of the five-item psychological demands scale of the Job Content Questionnaire. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(2), 120-132.
Choi B, Clays E, de Bacquer D, Karasek R. (2008). Socioeconomic status, job strain, and common mental disorders: an ecological (occupational) analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health Supplement, 6, 22-32.
Cho SL, Eum KD, Choi B, Paek DM, Karasek R. (2008). Social class, job insecurity, and job strain in Korea. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health Supplement, 6, 60-65.
Canivet C, Östergren PO, Choi B, Nilsson P, af Sillén U, Moghadassi M, Karasek RA, Isacsson SO. (2008). Self-reported sleeping problems as a risk factor for subsequent muscular pain. Results from a one-year follow-up of the Malmö Shoulder Neck Study cohort. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(4), 254-262.
Choi B, Bjorner J, Ostergren PO, Clay E, Houtman I, Punnett L, Rosengren A, de Bacquer D, Ferrario M, Bilau M, Karasek RA. (2009) Cross-language differential item functioning of the job content questionnaire among European countries: the JACE Study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 16(2), 136-147.
Canivet C, Östergren PO, Lindeberg S, Choi B, Karasek R, Moghadassi M, Isacsson SO. (2010). Conflict between the work and family domains and exhaustion among vocationally active men and women. Social Science & Medicine, 70, 1237-1245.
Lindeberg SI, Rosvall M, Choi B, Canivet C, Isacsson SO, Karasek R, Östergren PO. (in press). Psychosocial working conditions and exhaustion in a working population sample of Swedish middle-aged men and women. European Journal of Public Health.
Choi B, Ostergren PO, Canivet C, Moghadassi M, Lindeberg S, Nilsson P, Karasek R, Isacsson SO. (in press). Synergistic effect between job control and social support at work on general psychological distress. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health.
Choi B, Schnall P, Yang H, Dobson M, Landsbergis P, Israel L, Karasek R, Baker D. (in press). Sedentary work, low physical job demand, and obesity in US workers. American Journal of Industrial Medicine.
Choi B, Schnall P, Yang H, Dobson M, Landsbergis P, Israel L, Karasek R, Baker D. (in press). Psychosocial working conditions and active leisure-time physical activity in middle-aged US workers. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Abstracts
Choi B, Karasek RA, Ostergren PO, Ferrario M, De Smet P. (2004). Comparisons of Psychosocial Job Characteristic Scale Variations between Five European Countries. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11 (Suppl), 167-168.
Choi B, Cho SI, Li J, Yang W, Jhun HJ, Xu Z, Park JT. (2006). A Differential Item Functioning (DIF) Test for the Cross-National Quantitative Comparison of Psychosocial Job Hazards between Chinese and Korean Nurses. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 13 (Suppl), 331.
Choi B, Kawakami N, Chang SJ, Karasek RA. (2006). Predictive power comparison of socioeconomic position indicators and job strain on negative mental health in the Belgium, Korean, and Japanese workers. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 13(Suppl), 331.
Choi B, Schnall P, Yang H, Dobson M, Landsbergis P, Israel L, Karasek R, Baker D. (2009). Work stress and overeating coping in the US workforce. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 22(Suppl), 43.