Special Issue: Organizational health interventions

Special Issue: Organizational health interventions: Advances in evaluation methodology

Host Journal: Stress & Health

Guest editors: Maria Karanika-Murray, Nottingham Trent University United Kingdom, Caroline Biron, Laval University Canada, and Per Øystein Saksvik, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Call for papers

Organizational health interventions are “defined as planned actions that are designed to remove or modify the causes of job stress and impaired health and well-being, and that target relatively large groups of people in a relatively uniform way” (Nielsen, Taris, & Cox, 2010, p. 220). Such interventions generally focus on changing (i) roles and social relationships, (ii) work conditions such as work schedules and workload, and (iii) the work environment (Semmer, 2011). Although a growing body of evidence supports the relevance of interventions for improving a range of individual and organizational outcomes, there are many methodological challenges relating to their evaluation. The field itself is undergoing something of a paradigm change (Biron et al., in preparation). Any scientific field of inquiry needs its purposeful methodology in order to answer important research questions. In the field of organizational health interventions, appropriate purpose- and domain-specific evaluation methodologies seem to be lacking.

Although research has shown that organizational interventions developed to address work-related psychosocial issues such as stress and well-being can indeed have positive effects on a range of outcomes (Bourbonnais et al., 2006; Dahl-Jørgensen & Saksvik, 2005; Gilbert-Ouimet et al., 2011), there are still many inconsistencies and gaps in our knowledge of when interventions can be successful (Graveling, Crawford, Cowie, Amati, & Vohra, 2008; Richardson & Rothstein, 2008). Intervention success seems to be conditional on a range of factors, such as the content of the change, its broader context, as well as the implementation process (Karanika-Murray & Biron, 2013; Nielsen & Randall, 2012; Saksvik, Nytrø, Dahl-Jorgensen, & Mikkelsen, 2002). Calls have been made for an increased focus on evaluating the way in which interventions are implemented and how this affects their outcomes (Biron & Karanika-Murray, 2014; Egan, Bambra, Petticrew & Whitehead, 2009; Nielsen & Abildgaard, 2013). However, evaluation methodology in organizational interventions for psychosocial issues is still in its infancy. With a few notable or adequate developments, traditional evaluation methodologies – such as, for example, the RCT, which is considered as the gold standard (see Cox et al., 2007) – can be criticized as limiting. Although the area is growing, it is growing slowly, in an unmethodical fashion, and with little consensus on what can be considered valid, reliable, and acceptable. For example, checklists of indicators for evaluating process or lists of process variables that can act as moderators or mediators are considered poor ways forward, but no alternatives or a clear methodological framework have been offered.

It is timely and needed for researchers and practitioners alike to develop methodologies that can provide reliable and valid answers to pragmatic research questions in the field of organizational health interventions. This Special Issue will focus on advances in evaluation methodology in organizational interventions, specifically on organizational interventions targeting psychosocial issues as opposed to individual aspects.

We welcome conceptual and empirical submissions that provide innovative approaches to evaluating organizational interventions. A consideration of all the elements of interventions (the content, target outcome, context, and process of implementation) would be important. Submissions can focus on any element of intervention evaluation methodology, including data, settings, analyses, sampling, measurement, intervention elements, adaptation of alternative methodologies, and so on.

Timeline for the production of the Special Issue

Letter of intent to submit (optional; up to 500 words): 1 December 2014

Paper submission: 1 July 2015

First round of reviews

Decision letter from editors (accept/reject/revise): 1 November 2015

Revised paper submission: 1 March 2016

Second round of reviews (if needed)

Decision letter from editors (accept/reject/revise): 1 May 2016

Final paper submission: 1 July 2016

Publication of Special Issue: October 2016

Potential authors are strongly encouraged to submit a brief abstract indicating their intent to submit a full paper to the special issue. This will assist the guest editors with the planning of the special issue and will also be used to provide authors with initial feedback regarding the potential theoretical and methodological contribution, research quality, relevance to and coverage of the existing literature, novelty or the extent to which the proposed paper challenges established knowledge, and potential for moving the field forward in large strides. In addition to addressing the topic of the special issue, submissions should adhere to the scope and aims of Stress & Health.

Full papers will be due by 1 July 2015. Editorial decisions will be made by 1 November 2015 with an additional 6-8 months allotted for any necessary revisions. The Special Issue will appear in the October 2016 issue of Stress and Health. 

Please prepare manuscripts in line with the journal’s Author Guidelines. Abstracts and manuscripts should be submitted at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/smi. Please indicate in your cover letter that the submission is for consideration in the Special Issue on Organizational health interventions: Advances in evaluation methodology.

For any questions relating to this special issue, please contact the guest editors:

Maria Karanika-Murray maria.karanika-murray@ntu.ac.uk

Caroline Biron caroline.biron@fsa.ulaval.ca

Per Øystein Saksvik per.saksvik@svt.ntnu.no

Please click here for the online call.

2015 WSH conference: Best Intervention Competition

Those interested in this Special Issue may also be interested in the Best Intervention Competition of the next 2015 Work, Stress, and Health Conference (WSH), organized by NIOSH and the American Psychological Association. The competition aims “to recognize outstanding evaluations of interventions in which researchers partner with industry and labor to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses and promote workplace safety and health”. Submissions to WSH are a voluntary activity for those also interested in submitting papers to the Special Issue. The deadline for the WSH abstracts submission (including intent to submit to the Best Intervention Competition) is 6 October 2014.

2012 EAWOP Small Group Meeting

The collaboration that gave rise to this special issue is one of many outcomes of the Small Group Meetings scheme of the European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) which supported the “Intervention Process Evaluation Partnership” meeting at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, May 2012. For information on this SMG please contact the guest editors.

References

Biron, C., & Karanika-Murray, M. (2014). Process evaluation for organizational stress and well-being interventions: Implications for theory, method, and practice. International Journal of Stress Management, 21(1), 85-111. doi: 10.1037/a0033227

Biron, C., Karanika-Murray, M., Daniels, K., Hasson, H., Nielsen, K., Saksvik, P. Ø., & von Thiele Schwarz, U. (in preparation). Hunting the trolls of organizational health interventions: A research agenda for intervention process evaluation

Bourbonnais, R., Brisson, C., Vinet, A., Vézina, M., Abdous, B., & Gaudet, B. (2006). Effectiveness of a participative intervention on psychosocial work factors to prevent mental health problems in a hospital setting. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 63, 335-342. doi: 10.1136/oem.2004.018077

Dahl-Jørgensen, C., & Saksvik, P. O. (2005). The impact of two organizational interventions on the health of service sector workers. International journal of health services: Planning, administration, evaluation, 35, 529-549. doi: 10.2190/P67F-3U5Y-3DDW-MGT1

Egan, M., Bambra, C., Petticrew, M., & Whitehead, M. (2009). Reviewing evidence on complex social interventions: Appraising implementation in systematic reviews of the health effects of organisational-level workplace interventions. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63(1), 4-11. doi: 10.1136/jech.2007.071233

Gilbert-Ouimet, M., Brisson, C., Vézina, M., Trudel, L., Bourbonnais, R., Masse, B., Baril-Gingras, G., & Dionne, C.E. (2011). Intervention Study on Psychosocial Work Factors and Mental Health and Musculoskeletal Outcomes. HealthcarePapers, 11(Sp), 47-66. doi:10.12927/hcpap.2011.22410

Karanika-Murray, M., & Biron, C. (2013). The nature of change in organizational health interventions: Some observations and propositions. In G. F. Bauer & G. J. Jenny (Eds.), Salutogenic organizations and change: The concepts behind organizational health intervention research (pp. 239-258). Dordrecht: Springer.

Nielsen, K., & Abildgaard, J. S. (2013). Organizational interventions: A research-based framework for the evaluation of both process and effects. Work and Stress, 27(3), 278-297. doi: 10.1080/02678373.2013.812358

Nielsen, K., & Randall, R. (2012). Opening the black box: Presenting a model for evaluating organizational-level interventions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1-17. doi: 10.1080/1359432x.2012.690556

Saksvik, P., Nytrø, K., Dahl-Jorgensen, C., & Mikkelsen, A. (2002). A process evaluation of individual and organizational occupational stress and health interventions. Work & Stress, 16, 37 – 57. doi: 10.1080/02678370110118744

Semmer, N. (2011). Job stress interventions and organization of work. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology (2nd Ed., pp. 299-318). Washington, DC: APA.

Special Issue: Organizational health interventions: Advances in evaluation methodology

Host Journal: Stress & Health

Guest editors: Maria Karanika-Murray, Nottingham Trent University United Kingdom, Caroline Biron, Laval University Canada, and Per Øystein Saksvik, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Call for papers

Organizational health interventions are “defined as planned actions that are designed to remove or modify the causes of job stress and impaired health and well-being, and that target relatively large groups of people in a relatively uniform way” (Nielsen, Taris, & Cox, 2010, p. 220). Such interventions generally focus on changing (i) roles and social relationships, (ii) work conditions such as work schedules and workload, and (iii) the work environment (Semmer, 2011). Although a growing body of evidence supports the relevance of interventions for improving a range of individual and organizational outcomes, there are many methodological challenges relating to their evaluation. The field itself is undergoing something of a paradigm change (Biron et al., in preparation). Any scientific field of inquiry needs its purposeful methodology in order to answer important research questions. In the field of organizational health interventions, appropriate purpose- and domain-specific evaluation methodologies seem to be lacking.

Although research has shown that organizational interventions developed to address work-related psychosocial issues such as stress and well-being can indeed have positive effects on a range of outcomes (Bourbonnais et al., 2006; Dahl-Jørgensen & Saksvik, 2005; Gilbert-Ouimet et al., 2011), there are still many inconsistencies and gaps in our knowledge of when interventions can be successful (Graveling, Crawford, Cowie, Amati, & Vohra, 2008; Richardson & Rothstein, 2008). Intervention success seems to be conditional on a range of factors, such as the content of the change, its broader context, as well as the implementation process (Karanika-Murray & Biron, 2013; Nielsen & Randall, 2012; Saksvik, Nytrø, Dahl-Jorgensen, & Mikkelsen, 2002). Calls have been made for an increased focus on evaluating the way in which interventions are implemented and how this affects their outcomes (Biron & Karanika-Murray, 2014; Egan, Bambra, Petticrew & Whitehead, 2009; Nielsen & Abildgaard, 2013). However, evaluation methodology in organizational interventions for psychosocial issues is still in its infancy. With a few notable or adequate developments, traditional evaluation methodologies – such as, for example, the RCT, which is considered as the gold standard (see Cox et al., 2007) – can be criticized as limiting. Although the area is growing, it is growing slowly, in an unmethodical fashion, and with little consensus on what can be considered valid, reliable, and acceptable. For example, checklists of indicators for evaluating process or lists of process variables that can act as moderators or mediators are considered poor ways forward, but no alternatives or a clear methodological framework have been offered.

It is timely and needed for researchers and practitioners alike to develop methodologies that can provide reliable and valid answers to pragmatic research questions in the field of organizational health interventions. This Special Issue will focus on advances in evaluation methodology in organizational interventions, specifically on organizational interventions targeting psychosocial issues as opposed to individual aspects.

We welcome conceptual and empirical submissions that provide innovative approaches to evaluating organizational interventions. A consideration of all the elements of interventions (the content, target outcome, context, and process of implementation) would be important. Submissions can focus on any element of intervention evaluation methodology, including data, settings, analyses, sampling, measurement, intervention elements, adaptation of alternative methodologies, and so on.

Timeline for the production of the Special Issue

Letter of intent to submit (optional; up to 500 words): 1 December 2014

Paper submission: 1 July 2015

First round of reviews

Decision letter from editors (accept/reject/revise): 1 November 2015

Revised paper submission: 1 March 2016

Second round of reviews (if needed)

Decision letter from editors (accept/reject/revise): 1 May 2016

Final paper submission: 1 July 2016

Publication of Special Issue: October 2016

Potential authors are strongly encouraged to submit a brief abstract indicating their intent to submit a full paper to the special issue. This will assist the guest editors with the planning of the special issue and will also be used to provide authors with initial feedback regarding the potential theoretical and methodological contribution, research quality, relevance to and coverage of the existing literature, novelty or the extent to which the proposed paper challenges established knowledge, and potential for moving the field forward in large strides. In addition to addressing the topic of the special issue, submissions should adhere to the scope and aims of Stress & Health.

Full papers will be due by 1 July 2015. Editorial decisions will be made by 1 November 2015 with an additional 6-8 months allotted for any necessary revisions. The Special Issue will appear in the October 2016 issue of Stress and Health.

Please prepare manuscripts in line with the journal’s Author Guidelines. Abstracts and manuscripts should be submitted at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/smi. Please indicate in your cover letter that the submission is for consideration in the Special Issue on Organizational health interventions: Advances in evaluation methodology.

For any questions relating to this special issue, please contact the guest editors:

Maria Karanika-Murray maria.karanika-murray@ntu.ac.uk

Caroline Biron caroline.biron@fsa.ulaval.ca

Per Øystein Saksvik per.saksvik@svt.ntnu.no

Please click here for the online call.

2015 WSH conference: Best Intervention Competition

Those interested in this Special Issue may also be interested in the Best Intervention Competition of the next 2015 Work, Stress, and Health Conference (WSH), organized by NIOSH and the American Psychological Association. The competition aims “to recognize outstanding evaluations of interventions in which researchers partner with industry and labor to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses and promote workplace safety and health”. Submissions to WSH are a voluntary activity for those also interested in submitting papers to the Special Issue. The deadline for the WSH abstracts submission (including intent to submit to the Best Intervention Competition) is 6 October 2014.

2012 EAWOP Small Group Meeting

The collaboration that gave rise to this special issue is one of many outcomes of the Small Group Meetings scheme of the European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) which supported the “Intervention Process Evaluation Partnership” meeting at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, May 2012. For information on this SMG please contact the guest editors.

References

Biron, C., & Karanika-Murray, M. (2014). Process evaluation for organizational stress and well-being interventions: Implications for theory, method, and practice. International Journal of Stress Management, 21(1), 85-111. doi: 10.1037/a0033227

Biron, C., Karanika-Murray, M., Daniels, K., Hasson, H., Nielsen, K., Saksvik, P. Ø., & von Thiele Schwarz, U. (in preparation). Hunting the trolls of organizational health interventions: A research agenda for intervention process evaluation

Bourbonnais, R., Brisson, C., Vinet, A., Vézina, M., Abdous, B., & Gaudet, B. (2006). Effectiveness of a participative intervention on psychosocial work factors to prevent mental health problems in a hospital setting. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 63, 335-342. doi: 10.1136/oem.2004.018077

Dahl-Jørgensen, C., & Saksvik, P. O. (2005). The impact of two organizational interventions on the health of service sector workers. International journal of health services: Planning, administration, evaluation, 35, 529-549. doi: 10.2190/P67F-3U5Y-3DDW-MGT1

Egan, M., Bambra, C., Petticrew, M., & Whitehead, M. (2009). Reviewing evidence on complex social interventions: Appraising implementation in systematic reviews of the health effects of organisational-level workplace interventions. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63(1), 4-11. doi: 10.1136/jech.2007.071233

Gilbert-Ouimet, M., Brisson, C., Vézina, M., Trudel, L., Bourbonnais, R., Masse, B., Baril-Gingras, G., & Dionne, C.E. (2011). Intervention Study on Psychosocial Work Factors and Mental Health and Musculoskeletal Outcomes. HealthcarePapers, 11(Sp), 47-66. doi:10.12927/hcpap.2011.22410

Karanika-Murray, M., & Biron, C. (2013). The nature of change in organizational health interventions: Some observations and propositions. In G. F. Bauer & G. J. Jenny (Eds.), Salutogenic organizations and change: The concepts behind organizational health intervention research (pp. 239-258). Dordrecht: Springer.

Nielsen, K., & Abildgaard, J. S. (2013). Organizational interventions: A research-based framework for the evaluation of both process and effects. Work and Stress, 27(3), 278-297. doi: 10.1080/02678373.2013.812358

Nielsen, K., & Randall, R. (2012). Opening the black box: Presenting a model for evaluating organizational-level interventions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1-17. doi: 10.1080/1359432x.2012.690556

Saksvik, P., Nytrø, K., Dahl-Jorgensen, C., & Mikkelsen, A. (2002). A process evaluation of individual and organizational occupational stress and health interventions. Work & Stress, 16, 37 – 57. doi: 10.1080/02678370110118744

Semmer, N. (2011). Job stress interventions and organization of work. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology (2nd Ed., pp. 299-318). Washington, DC: APA.