Effect of a participative action intervention program on reducing mental retirement

Effects of a participatory work stress prevention approach for employees in primary education: results of a quasi-experimental study

OBJECTIVE

Work stress is a serious problem for employees in primary education. This study evaluates the effects of a work stress prevention approach on emotional exhaustion and work stress determinants (job crafting behavior, quantitative and emotional demands, leadership, support, autonomy, team culture and feelings of competence), and the impact of implementation success (management commitment, employee involvement, communication during implementation) on these outcomes.

METHODS

A quasi-experimental study was conducted with an intervention group (4 schools, N=102 employees) and a control group (26 schools, N=656 employees) using questionnaires at baseline (T0), one-year (T1) and two-year (T2) follow-up. Multilevel mixed model analyses were performed to test effects of condition and implementation success on changes in emotional exhaustion and work stress determinants between T0 and T2 in the intervention and control group.

RESULTS

No effect were found for emotional exhaustion. Improvement of quality of leadership between T0 and T2 was significantly larger in the intervention compared to the control group. Additionally, implementation success was associated with a decrease in unnecessary demands and an increase in quality of leadership, team culture and job crafting behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows no direct effect of the approach on emotional exhaustion, but it does show beneficial effects on quality of leadership. Additionally, results suggest that, when successfully implemented, the approach also has beneficial effects on other work stress determinants (ie, job crafting behavior, unnecessary demands and team culture). Results indicate that - if implemented successfully - the organizational-level intervention has the potential to improve the psychosocial work context.

Reducing Psychosocial Risk Factors and Improving Employee Well-Being in Emergency Departments: A Realist Evaluation

This study reports the findings of a 2.5 year intervention project to reduce psychosocial risks and increase employee well-being in 15 emergency departments in the Netherlands. The project uses the psychosocial risk management approach “PRIMA” which includes cycles of risk assessment, designing and implementing changes, evaluating changes and adapting the approach if necessary. In addition, principles of participative action research were used to empower the departments in designing and implementing their own actions during the project. Next to determining overall effects, the study aims to assess potential moderators including the level of intervening (organization-directed or multilevel), process variables (the number and fit of actions to risk factors, communication and employee participation) and partaking in a Psychosocial Safety Climate intervention offered during the second half of the project. The results of linear mixed-model analyses showed that all job factors improved with the exception of autonomy, which did increase halfway the project but not when considering the entire timeframe. In addition, work engagement decreased and symptoms of burnout remained stable. Emergency departments that implemented more fitting actions, communicated better and involved their employees more in the process, had more favorable changes in job factors and more stable well-being. More activity (based on the number of actions implemented) and a multilevel approach regarding stress management did not lead to greater improvements. The Psychosocial Safety Climate intervention was effective in improving Psychosocial Safety Climate, but a longer follow-up period seems required to evaluate its effect on job factors and well-being. Overall, the project resulted in positive changes in most job factors, and its findings emphasize the importance of process variables in stress management interventions. Longer follow-up and higher quality multilevel interventions (including professional support for employees with stress-related complaints) seem essential to also improve well-being.

Using intervention mapping to develop 'Healthy HR' aimed at improving sustainable employability of low-educated employees

BACKGROUND

The perspectives of low-educated employees are often neglected when designing sustainable employability (SE) interventions. As a result, the interventions offered by the employer do often not align with the needs of low-educated employees. This particular group should therefore be actively involved in the process of developing and implementing SE interventions in their work organizations. The current paper describes the development process of a web-based intervention for HR managers and direct supervisors aimed at improving the SE of low-educated employees. This intervention is specifically designed to involve low-educated employees.

METHODS

The first four steps of the Intervention Mapping (IM) approach were used to systematically develop the intervention with the active involvement of stakeholders. Step 1 comprised a needs assessment including a literature review, empirical evidence, scoping search and several focus group interviews with employees and with representatives of employers. Step 2 formulated the intervention objective. During step 3, suitable theoretical methods were selected and translated to practical applications. Step 4 involved the development of a web-based intervention by integrating all information from the preceding steps.

RESULTS

The needs assessment indicated that the employees' active involvement and employees-employer genuine dialogue should be essential characteristics of an SE intervention for low-educated employees. The online toolkit 'Healthy HR' (HHR) was developed, which contains eight steps. Each step consists of one or more tasks helping the employer and employees with developing and implementing SE interventions themselves. One or more dialogue-based tools support each task. The leading principle providing structure within HHR was Adapted Intervention Mapping.

CONCLUSION

Principles of IM appeared to be useful to develop the intervention HHR systematically. This development process resulted in a practical online toolkit that supports employers in the development and implementation of local SE interventions tailored to the needs of low-educated employees. These employees should be actively involved in the process through a dialogue-based approach. By using IM principles, HHR is expected to increase the effectiveness in bettering the health and well-being of low-educated employees.

Effects of participatory workplace improvement program on stress-related biomarkers and self-reported stress among university hospital nurses: a preliminary study

Although participatory workplace improvement programs are known to provide favorable effects on high stress occupations like nursing, no studies have confirmed its effect using biomarkers. The aim of this study was to determine whether a participatory workplace improvement program would decrease stress-related symptoms as evaluated by biomarkers and self-reported stress among hospital nurses. Three actions to alleviate job stress, which were determined through focus group interviews and voting, were undertaken for two months. A total of 31 female Japanese nurses underwent measurement of inflammatory markers, autonomic nervous activity (ANA), and perceived job stress (PJS) at three-time points; before the program (T1), within a week after the completion of the program (T2), and three months after the program (T3). A series of inflammatory markers (Interferon-γ, Interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-12/23p40) decreased significantly at T2, and IL-12/23p40 and IL-15 significantly decreased at T3 compared to T1, while ANA and PJS remained unchanged. Our participatory program exerted beneficial effects in reducing inflammatory responses, but not for ANA and PJS. Further investigations with a better study design, i.e., a randomized controlled trial, and a larger sample size are warranted to determine what exerted beneficial effects on inflammatory markers and why other outcomes remained unchanged.

Decreasing employees' work stress by a participatory, organizational level work stress prevention approach: a multiple-case study in primary education

Background

Work stress is an important problem among employees in education in the Netherlands. The present study aims to investigate the effects of a participatory organizational level work stress prevention approach to reduce (quantitative) job demands, increase resources (i.e. autonomy, supervisor and coworker support) and to reduce work stress and increase job satisfaction of employees in primary education.

Methods

This study makes use of a multiple case study research design. The stress prevention approach is implemented at 5 primary schools and questionnaires were filled out by 119 employees of the 5 schools at baseline and 1 year later, measuring job demands, resources, work stress, job satisfaction and implementation factors.

Results

Multilevel analyses showed a significant decrease in job demands and a significant increase in job satisfaction between baseline and follow up. In addition, employees that were more satisfied with the communication about the intervention showed more improvements in autonomy and job satisfaction. However, employees reporting an increased dialogue in work stress between employees and management showed a smaller decrease in job demands.

Conclusion

The study shows a decrease in job demands and an increase in job satisfaction in the schools that implemented a stress prevention approach. Results of the study underline the importance of communication about the intervention as part of the implementation process, impacting the effectiveness of the intervention to improve autonomy and job satisfaction.

Trial registration

ISRCTN registry, study ID: ISRCTN14697835, registration date: 11-10-2019 (retrospectively registered).