Workplace Interventions to Reduce Occupational Stress for Older Workers: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The working life of individuals is now longer because of increases to state pension age in the United Kingdom. Older workers may be at particular risk in the workplace, compared with younger workers. Successful workplace interventions to reduce occupational stress amongst older workers are essential, but little is known about their effectiveness. The aim is to evaluate current evidence of the effectiveness of interventions for reducing stress in older workers in non-healthcare settings. Four database searches were conducted. The search terms included synonyms of “intervention”, “workplace” and “occupational stress” to identify original studies published since 2011. Dual screening was conducted on the sample to identify studies which met the inclusion criteria. The RoB 2.0 tool for RCTs was used to assess the risk of bias. From 3708 papers retrieved, ten eligible papers were identified. Seven of the papers’ interventions were deemed effective in reducing workplace stress. The sample size for most studies was small, and the effectiveness of interventions were more likely to be reported when studies used self-report measures, rather than biological measures. This review indicates that workplace interventions might be effective for reducing stress in older workers. However, there remains an absence of high-quality evidence in this field.

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