Abstract
BackgroundWork stress is an important problem among employees in education in the Netherlands. The present study aims to investigate the effects of a participatory organizational level work stress prevention approach to reduce (quantitative) job demands, increase resources (i.e. autonomy, supervisor and coworker support) and to reduce work stress and increase job satisfaction of employees in primary education.MethodsThis study makes use of a multiple case study research design. The stress prevention approach is implemented at 5 primary schools and questionnaires were filled out by 119 employees of the 5 schools at baseline and 1 year later, measuring job demands, resources, work stress, job satisfaction and implementation factors.ResultsMultilevel analyses showed a significant decrease in job demands and a significant increase in job satisfaction between baseline and follow up. In addition, employees that were more satisfied with the communication about the intervention showed more improvements in autonomy and job satisfaction. However, employees reporting an increased dialogue in work stress between employees and management showed a smaller decrease in job demands.ConclusionThe study shows a decrease in job demands and an increase in job satisfaction in the schools that implemented a stress prevention approach. Results of the study underline the importance of communication about the intervention as part of the implementation process, impacting the effectiveness of the intervention to improve autonomy and job satisfaction.Trial registrationISRCTN registry, study ID: ISRCTN14697835, registration date: 11-10-2019 (retrospectively registered).
Highlights
Work stress is an important problem among employees in education in the Netherlands
The current study aims to explore the effect of the work stress prevention approach on job demands and resources and on work stress and job satisfaction
Even though in the analyses we corrected for clustering effects of school by means of a multilevel approach, for job demands, co-worker support, work stress and job satisfaction no differences were found between the schools (Table 2)
Summary
Work stress is an important problem among employees in education in the Netherlands. The present study aims to investigate the effects of a participatory organizational level work stress prevention approach to reduce (quantitative) job demands, increase resources (i.e. autonomy, supervisor and coworker support) and to reduce work stress and increase job satisfaction of employees in primary education. According to a survey that is representative for the Dutch workforce, one in five employees in education in the Netherlands suffers from work stress [3], i.e. they feel emotionally drained and exhausted especially at the end of the work day, and are tired when they get up again in the morning. The high prevalence of work stress in primary education, combined with the shortage of teachers in this sector, ask for effective interventions to reduce work stress and increase job satisfaction, to prevent teachers from leaving their profession
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