Interventions: Employees’ Perceptions of What Reduces Stress

Abstract

Objective To build upon research evaluating stress interventions, this qualitative study tests the framework of the extended Job Demands-Resources model to investigate employees' perceptions of the stress-reduction measures implemented at 13 Australian universities. Methods In a cross-sectional survey design, tenured and contract staff indicated whether their overall level of stress had changed during the previous three-four years, and, if so, they described the major causes. A total of 462 staff reported that their level of stress had decreased; the study examines commentary from 115 academic and 304 nonacademic staff who provided details of what they perceived to be effective in reducing stress. Results Thematic analyses show that the key perceived causes were changes in job or work role, new heads of departments or supervisors, and the use of organizational strategies to reduce or manage stress. A higher percentage of academic staff reported reduced stress due to using protective coping strategies or their increased recognition and/or success, whereas a higher percentage of nonacademic staff reported reduced stress due to increases in staffing resources and/or systems. Conclusion These results identify the importance of implementing multilevel strategies to enhance employees' well-being. Nonacademic staff, in particular, specified a variety of organizational stress-reduction interventions.

Trabalho digno expressando valores universais e respeitando diversidade cultural: Proposições para a intervenção

“…Intervention can be the definition of public policy, inter-organizational and organizational projects, or even individual counselling, mentoring, coaching or other structured action of intentional development (as defined by dos Santos and Pais, 2015). For example, organizational intervention projects aimed at stress reduction include changes in the job or work role, as well as replacing managers (Pignata, Boyd, Winefield, & Provis, 2017). Concerning public policy intervention, Dammert, de Hoop, Mvukiyehe and Rosati (2018) synthesize the effect of public policy on decreasing child labour.…”

Management-led interventions for workplace stress and mental health of academic staff in higher education: a systematic review

“…With the corporatisation of universities identified above coupled with reduced government funding, the current trend has become the commercialisation of universities to attract more students which materialises into more funding for the universities (Pop-Vasileva et al , 2011). This has not only resulted in increased workload, role conflict, increased administrative functions and job demand but also given rise to academic staff struggling to comply with new technological trends while adapting to ever changing government policies (Kenny and Fluck, 2014; Pignata et al , 2017). Hence, issues around government policies and austerity measures, funding and technological changes have put a lot of pressure on academic staff making efforts to cope with the current trend while ensuring they perform their basic functions of teaching and research.…”

Evaluation of multi-level intervention strategies for a psychologically healthy construction workplace in Nigeria

“…Although evidence shows that strategies to improve mental health are available in other sectors (Joyce et al , 2010; Tan et al , 2014; Joyce et al , 2016; Pignata et al , 2017; Havermans et al , 2018; Pignata et al , 2018), solutions are unique to work context (LaMontagne et al , 2014), as the one-size-fits-all interventions do not apply to mental health problems (Rebar and Taylor, 2017). For instance, job redesign measures in the construction industry for on-site personnel may differ from those in the health sector.…”

“…Furthermore, all the previous studies considered the construction industry in a developed context. Additionally, most of the studies in other occupational settings as well as construction industry are not multi-leveled strategies, to which Pignata et al (2017) and Pignata et al (2018) have emphasized that a standalone secondary or primary intervention is not adequate for stress mitigation and mental health management. Therefore, this present study adds to the body of knowledge by considering multi-level strategies targeted toward mitigating and preventing work and non-work mental ill-health risk factors in the construction industry from the context of a developing country.…”

“…psychological resources), demands and resources. Job demand is the physical, psychological, social or organizational aspect of the job, which requires physical efforts or skills and is associated with physiological or psychological cost (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Pignata et al , 2017). Job demand is categorized into challenges, threats and hindrances demand (Pignata et al , 2017).…”