Design of a Participatory Organizational-Level Work Stress Prevention Approach in Primary Education

Background: Work stress is a serious problem in primary education. Decades of research underline the importance of participatory, organizational-level work stress prevention approaches. In this approach, measures are planned to tackle causes of work stress in a participatory manner and implemented by a working group consisting of members of the...

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...

Effectiveness of a digital platform-based implementation strategy to prevent work stress in a healthcare organization: a 12-month follow-up controlled trial

Objectives Healthcare workers frequently deal with work stress. This is a risk factor for adverse mental and physical health effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a digital platform-based implementation strategy – compared to a control group – on stress, work stress determinants (ie. psychosocial work...

Work Stress Interventions in Hospital Care: Effectiveness of the DISCovery Method

Effective interventions to prevent work stress and to improve health, well-being, and performance of employees are of the utmost importance. This quasi-experimental intervention study presents a specific method for diagnosis of psychosocial risk factors at work and subsequent development and implementation of tailored work stress interventions,...

Process variables in organizational stress management intervention evaluation research: a systematic review

Objectives This systematic review aimed to explore which process variables are used in stress management intervention (SMI) evaluation research. Methods A systematic review was conducted using seven electronic databases. Studies were included if they reported on an SMI aimed at primary or secondary stress prevention, were directed at paid...

Job strain in relation to body mass index: Pooled analysis of 160000 adults from 13 cohort studies

Background. Evidence of an association between job strain and obesity is inconsistent, mostly limited to small-scale studies, and does not distinguish between categories of underweight or obesity subclasses. Objectives. To examine the association between job strain and body mass index (BMI) in a large adult population. Methods. We performed a...

Unobtrusively Measuring Stress and Workload of Knowledge Workers

Imagine a typical working day of a knowledge worker, i.e. someone who is predominantly concerned with interpreting and generating information. Bob gets into the office at 9, starts up his computer, takes a look at his mails and calendar and plans what things he has to do this day. Then he starts working on one of the important tasks that have to...

Job strain in relation to ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability among female nurses

Objective. This study examined the effects of exposure to job strain on independent predictors of cardiovascular disease (ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability). Methods. The participants comprised a homogeneous group of 159 healthy female nurses [mean age 35.9 (SD 8.5) years]. The choice of this population minimized...

Dutch monitor on stress and physical load: Risk factors, consequences, and preventive action

Objectives - Due to recent changes in legislation on occupational health and safety, a national monitor on stress and physical load was developed in The Netherlands to monitor (a) risks and consequences of stress and physical load at work, (b) preventive actions in companies to reduce these risks, and (c) organisational and environmental...

Regulations, policies and practices concerning work stress in five European countries

A comparative inventory of regulations, policies and practices in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Germany and France with regard to the prevention of work stress was carried out. In each country data were collected by means of interviews with key informants and through exploring relevant documents and literature. It was found that Sweden. The...