Effects of a participatory work stress prevention approach in primary education in the Netherlands

To date work stress is a serious problem, especially among workers in primary education. Decades of research underline the importance of a participatory, organizational-level work stress prevention approach. In this approach measures are planned to tackle causes of work stress in a participatory manner and implemented by a working group consisting of members of the organization. This study evaluates a work stress prevention approach that is implemented in primary education.

The work stress prevention approach consists of five steps: 1) preparation: installing an advisory board and working groups, 2) risk assessment: inventory of work stress risks (questionnaires and focus groups). In addition, a behavioral analysis is performed to build a logic model of change to facilitate the selection of actions, 3) action planning: conducting an action plan with measures to target risks (focus groups), 4) implementation: implementation of the action plan. During implementation progression on target behaviors and implementation factors are monthly monitored and fed back to the implementors, and 5) evaluation: effects of the approach are studied in a controlled-trial with measurements at baseline (T0), one-year (T1) and two-year (T2) follow-up.

At two-year follow up, employees of the intervention schools report significantly lower levels of work stress and work stress risks as compared to employees of the control schools

Baseline (T0): November 2019,
One-year Follow-up: November 2020,
Two-year Follow-up: November 2021

The work stress prevention approach consists of five steps: 1) preparation: installing an advisory board and working groups, 2) risk assessment: inventory of work stress risks (questionnaires and focus groups). In addition, a behavioral analysis is performed to build a logic model of change to facilitate the selection of actions, 3) action planning: conducting an action plan with measures to target risks (focus groups), 4) implementation: implementation of the action plan. During implementation progression on target behaviors and implementation factors are monthly monitored and fed back to the implementors, and 5) evaluation: effects of the approach are studied in a controlled-trial with measurements at baseline (T0), one-year (T1) and two-year (T2) follow-up.