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.

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, Quebec, 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. Cooper CBE 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.