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Assessing psychosocial work-related stress across five European countries: implications for workforce development
- Authors:
- DENNY Margaret, WELLS John, CUNNINGHAM Jennifer
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice, 6(2), 2011, pp.93-103.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The European Union's social and employment policy emphasises that member states should develop workforce development policies that combat work-related stress. However there is little comparative information on the nature of psychosocial job strain and the experiences of staff working in the vocational rehabilitative sector in mental health and intellectual disabilities. This paper reports the findings of a small-scale study, using a cross-sectional job content questionnaire (JCQ) and focus groups, to explore psychosocial job stress among managers and support workers in five European countries. Findings from the JCQ showed that just under 20 percent of the sample exhibited symptoms of job stress. The focus groups identified the key stressors as: balancing work demands with time available to carry out tasks; poor communication within organisations; and feeling unsupported in one's work. As a result of this work, which is part of the Reducing Occupational Stress Employment Project (ROSE), it was found that there are no national or European data collected upon which to base effective interventions to combat occupational stress and no effective mechanisms in the workplace to deal with occupational stress for professionals working in this sector. Based on the findings, a web site was developed that provides information to managers, trainers, and support workers to manage personal and organisational stressors and raise awareness of the issue.