Improving Organizational Interventions For Stress and Well-Being
Addressing Process and Context

This book brings together a number of experts in the field of organizational interventions for stress and well-being, and discusses the importance of process and context issues to the success or failure of such interventions. The book explores how context and process can be incorporated into program evaluation, providing examples of how this can be done, and offers insights that aim to improve working life.

Although there is a substantial body of research supporting a causal relationship between working conditions and employee stress and well-being, information on how to develop effective strategies to reduce or eliminate psychosocial risks in the workplace is much more scarce, ambiguous and inconclusive. Indeed, researchers in this field have so far attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of organizational interventions to improve workers? health and well-being, but little attention has been paid to the strategies and processes likely to enhance or undermine interventions. The focus of this volume will help to overcome this qualitative-quantitative divide.

This book discusses conceptual developments, practical applications, and methodological issues in the field. As such it is suitable for students, practitioners and researchers in the fields of organizational psychology and clinical psychology, as well as human resources management, health & safety, medicine, occupational health, risk management and public health.

N. K.Semmer, Foreword C. Biron, M. Karinika-Murray, C. L. Cooper, Organizational Interventions for Stress and Well-Being Part 1. Challenges and Methodological Issues in Organizational-Level InterventionsA.D. La Montagne, A.J. Noblet, P.A. Landsbergis, Intervention Development and Implementation: Understanding and Addressing Barriers to Organisational-Level Interventions N. Mellor, M. Karanika-Murray, E. Waite, Taking a Multi-Faceted, Multi-Level, and Integrated Perspective for Addressing Psychosocial Issues at the Workplace L. E. Tetrick, J. C. Quick, P. L. Gilmore, Research in Organizational Interventions to Improve Well-Being: Perspectives on Organizational Change and Development M. F. Dollard, Psychosocial Safety Climate: A Lead Indicator of Workplace Psychological Health and Engagement and a Precursor to Intervention Success S. D. Tvedt, P. O. Saksvik, Perspectives on the Intervention Process as a Special Case of Organizational Change R. Randall, K. M.Nielsen, Does the Intervention Fit? An Explanatory Model of Intervention Success and Failure in Complex Organizational Environments G. Baril-Gingras, M. Bellemare, C. Brisson, How can Qualitative Studies Help Explain the Role of Context and Process of Interventions on Occupational Safety and Health and on Mental Health at Work? C. Biron, What Works for Whom in Which Context?: Researching Organizational Interventions on Stress and Well-Being Using Realistic Evaluation Principles Part 2. Addressing Process and Context in PracticeR. Bourbonnais, N. Jauvin, J. Dussault, M. Vézina, Evaluation of an Intervention to Prevent Mental Health Problems Among Correctional Officers R. Lewis, J. Yarker, E. Donaldson-Feilder, The Vital Role of Line Managers in Managing Psychosocial Risks V. Brunsden, R. Hill, K. Maguire, The Impact of Process Issues on Stress Interventions in the Emergency Services, J. Klein Hesselinck, N. Wiezer, H. Den Besten, E. De Kleijn, The Development of Smart and Practical Small Group Interventions for work StressPart 3. Policy ImplicationsC. Mackay, D. Palferman, H. Saul, S. Webster, C. Packham, Implementation of the Management standars for Work-Related Stress in Great Britain, K. Daniels, M. Karanika-Murray, N. Mellor, M. van Veldhoven, Moving Policy and Practice Forward: Beyond Prescriptions for Job Characteristics A. Weyman, Evidence-Based Practice – Its Contributions to Learning in Managing Workplace Health Risks Part 4. Conclusions M. Karanika-Murray, C. Biron, C.L. Cooper, Concluding Comments: Distilling the Principles of Successful Organizational Intervention Implementation.

Caroline Biron is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Professor in Occupational Health and Safety Management in the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, and a member of the Chair in Occupational Health and Safety Management at Laval University, Québec, Canada. Her work on the intervention process won the Best Intervention Competition award at the Work, Stress & Health Conference 2011.

Maria Karanika-Murray is an Occupational Health Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her research focuses on the importance of the organizational context for employee health and well-being, and the assessment and management of work-related health and well-being.

Cary L. CooperCBE is Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University Management School, UK; Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences and Editor of the journal Stress and Health. He was honoured by the Queen with Commander of the British Empire for his contribution to occupational health.