Health and Medical Psychology Additional Literature
Week 3: Workplace Stress Management Interventions and Health Promotion
(Tetrick & Winslow, 2015)
Introduction
In 2014, 31% of working adults felt tension or stress, and 61% reported that they had
enough resources to deal with this stress. A low salary and a lack of opportunities for growth
were the most common sources of stress. Job insecurity is also in the top 5. Furthermore,
uncertain job expectations and long working days were also in the top 5. With regard to
interventions against work stress, the emphasis has probably been too much on 'red cape
interventions' with the intention of stopping negative experiences, instead of on the 'green
cape interventions', interventions with the aim of growing positive experiences. An example
for the focus in this is increasing the employee resources. In this article, literature about
stress management interventions is summarised, with an emphasis on green cape
interventions.
Theoretical framework
The authors use the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, a dual process model. This
model reflects two mechanisms through which job demands and resources can lead to
tension or motivation that subsequently influences organisational and individual outcomes.
The first process is a health limiting process in which poorly designed jobs and chronic
demands lead to poorer outcomes for employees and companies by exhausting the mental
and physical resources of the employee. The second process, a motivational process,
assumes that sources (for example, control, autonomy and feedback) can be motivators
because they can help to achieve work goals or stimulate growth and development. This
motivational process is especially important for health promotion and positive interventions.
In particular, the mediating effect of burnout and work engagement between job demands
and resources on the one hand, and well-being on the other, is supported by literature.
Stress management interventions
Stress management interventions in 2008
The authors have categorised the different interventions into three categories: primary
interventions are proactive and aimed at prevention and focus on all employees, secondary
interventions focus on employees at risk, and tertiary interventions focus on employees who
need stress experienced guidance to to recover from this. Primary interventions are seen as
the most effective, followed by secondary interventions and finally the tertiary interventions.
Three meta-analysis showed that stress management interventions are effective, but this
seems to depend on the outcome being measured. Relaxation interventions are less
effective than cognitive behavioural interventions. This is perhaps because relaxation is not
aimed at changing cognitions but at letting go. CBT interventions are proactive. Moreover, a
multimodal approach combining different types of interventions is no more effective than a
unimodal approach, because it requires much more from the participant's resources. A
, system approach, in which both individual and organisational interventions are combined, is
more effective because it does not necessarily exhaust the resources of the individual. The
organisation-oriented interventions are primary interventions and are the least researched.
Whether these interventions are effective on their own is not yet clear.
Recent developments
Mindfulness based interventions
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of interventions that use
mindfulness techniques. The definition of mindfulness is "a state of giving attention to and
awareness of what is taking place in the present." It could reduce employee stress by
accepting an event and not judging it. The mindfulness-based interventions that are now
being discussed are primary: aimed at all employees. According to a study by Wolver and
colleagues, workers in the mindfulness and yoga condition experienced significantly a
reduction of stress and improvement of sleep quality. There were also differences in heart
rate variability and breathing, but no differences in blood pressure and work productivity. The
Week 3: Workplace Stress Management Interventions and Health Promotion
(Tetrick & Winslow, 2015)
Introduction
In 2014, 31% of working adults felt tension or stress, and 61% reported that they had
enough resources to deal with this stress. A low salary and a lack of opportunities for growth
were the most common sources of stress. Job insecurity is also in the top 5. Furthermore,
uncertain job expectations and long working days were also in the top 5. With regard to
interventions against work stress, the emphasis has probably been too much on 'red cape
interventions' with the intention of stopping negative experiences, instead of on the 'green
cape interventions', interventions with the aim of growing positive experiences. An example
for the focus in this is increasing the employee resources. In this article, literature about
stress management interventions is summarised, with an emphasis on green cape
interventions.
Theoretical framework
The authors use the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, a dual process model. This
model reflects two mechanisms through which job demands and resources can lead to
tension or motivation that subsequently influences organisational and individual outcomes.
The first process is a health limiting process in which poorly designed jobs and chronic
demands lead to poorer outcomes for employees and companies by exhausting the mental
and physical resources of the employee. The second process, a motivational process,
assumes that sources (for example, control, autonomy and feedback) can be motivators
because they can help to achieve work goals or stimulate growth and development. This
motivational process is especially important for health promotion and positive interventions.
In particular, the mediating effect of burnout and work engagement between job demands
and resources on the one hand, and well-being on the other, is supported by literature.
Stress management interventions
Stress management interventions in 2008
The authors have categorised the different interventions into three categories: primary
interventions are proactive and aimed at prevention and focus on all employees, secondary
interventions focus on employees at risk, and tertiary interventions focus on employees who
need stress experienced guidance to to recover from this. Primary interventions are seen as
the most effective, followed by secondary interventions and finally the tertiary interventions.
Three meta-analysis showed that stress management interventions are effective, but this
seems to depend on the outcome being measured. Relaxation interventions are less
effective than cognitive behavioural interventions. This is perhaps because relaxation is not
aimed at changing cognitions but at letting go. CBT interventions are proactive. Moreover, a
multimodal approach combining different types of interventions is no more effective than a
unimodal approach, because it requires much more from the participant's resources. A
, system approach, in which both individual and organisational interventions are combined, is
more effective because it does not necessarily exhaust the resources of the individual. The
organisation-oriented interventions are primary interventions and are the least researched.
Whether these interventions are effective on their own is not yet clear.
Recent developments
Mindfulness based interventions
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of interventions that use
mindfulness techniques. The definition of mindfulness is "a state of giving attention to and
awareness of what is taking place in the present." It could reduce employee stress by
accepting an event and not judging it. The mindfulness-based interventions that are now
being discussed are primary: aimed at all employees. According to a study by Wolver and
colleagues, workers in the mindfulness and yoga condition experienced significantly a
reduction of stress and improvement of sleep quality. There were also differences in heart
rate variability and breathing, but no differences in blood pressure and work productivity. The
