Design of the Bottom-up Innovation project - a participatory, primary preventive, organizational level intervention on work-related stress and well-being for workers in Dutch vocational education

Abstract

BackgroundIn the educational sector job demands have intensified, while job resources remained the same. A prolonged disbalance between demands and resources contributes to lowered vitality and heightened need for recovery, eventually resulting in burnout, sickness absence and retention problems. Until now stress management interventions in education focused mostly on strengthening the individual capacity to cope with stress, instead of altering the sources of stress at work at the organizational level. These interventions have been only partly effective in influencing burnout and well-being. Therefore, the “Bottom-up Innovation” project tests a two-phased participatory, primary preventive organizational level intervention (i.e. a participatory action approach) that targets and engages all workers in the primary process of schools. It is hypothesized that participating in the project results in increased occupational self-efficacy and organizational efficacy. The central research question: is an organization focused stress management intervention based on participatory action effective in reducing the need for recovery and enhancing vitality in school employees in comparison to business as usual?Methods/DesignThe study is designed as a controlled trial with mixed methods and three measurement moments: baseline (quantitative measures), six months and 18 months (quantitative and qualitative measures). At first follow-up short term effects of taking part in the needs assessment (phase 1) will be determined. At second follow-up the long term effects of taking part in the needs assessment will be determined as well as the effects of implemented tailored workplace solutions (phase 2). A process evaluation based on quantitative and qualitative data will shed light on whether, how and why the intervention (does not) work(s).Discussion“Bottom-up Innovation” is a combined effort of the educational sector, intervention providers and researchers. Results will provide insight into (1) the relation between participating in the intervention and occupational and organizational self-efficacy, (2) how an improved balance between job demands and job resources might affect need for recovery and vitality, in the short and long term, from an organizational perspective, and (3) success and fail factors for implementation of an organizational intervention.Trial registration numberNetherlands Trial Register NTR3284

Evaluating the implementation process of a participatory organizational level occupational health intervention in schools

“…Detailed information on the methods, procedures and intervention can be found in the protocol article [35]. The project was conducted in two institutions for vocational education in the west (school A) and north (school B) of the Netherlands.…”

“Mental retirement?” Trajectories of work engagement preceding retirement among older workers

“…In addition, retirement was more likely to be preceded by steady low work engagement (at least the two years before the transition from work to retirement). Hence, interventions promoting work motivation, for example aiming at creating a balance in job demands and resources (32), are recommended to support the employability of these employees. Moreover, the results may suggest that employees who approach their retirement develop "second thoughts" regarding their work or take a "final sprint" in the face of retirement.…”

A study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial on mindfulness-based stress reduction: Studying effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an additional organisational health intervention on mental health and work-related perceptions of teachers in Dutch secondary vocational schools

“…Consequently, colleagues are overloaded (i.e., a job demand), while the job resources they can draw from remain the same at best. This pattern creates an imbalance between these colleagues' job demands and resources, which can jeopardise their well-being [7]. This imbalance between job demands and resources and its associated risk of negative effects on one's well-being may be an important reason that many novice teachers leave the educational sector within the first five years of their career [10] and that many experienced teachers retire early.…”

“…This imbalance between job demands and resources and its associated risk of negative effects on one's well-being may be an important reason that many novice teachers leave the educational sector within the first five years of their career [10] and that many experienced teachers retire early. In fact, 45% to 70% of the early retirements in the educational sector can be attributed to psychosomatic and psychological problems [7]. Therefore, it is extremely important to reduce and prevent stress and absenteeism in the occupational sector and to develop effective mental health management interventions, which can be both person-and organisation-focused.…”

“…However, two meta-analyses on work-related stress interventions [21,22] found no substantial differences between organisational-level and individual-level interventions. One explanation is the complexity of organisational-level interventions, which might hinder the implementation and measurement of outcomes [7,23]. In view of this, an appropriate (i.e., mixed-methods) evaluation of an organisational health intervention may require considering multiple process outcomes to monitor the implementation process and to investigate indepth the intervention's outcomes [7,24].…”