Effects of web-based supervisor training on job stressors and psychological distress among workers: a workplace-based randomized controlled trial.
Using workplaces as a unit for randomization, a randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine the effects of web-based supervisor training on the subject of worksite mental health on job stressors, supervisor support and psychological distress among subordinate workers. A total of eight workplaces of a sales and service company were randomly assigned to either training workplaces or non-training workplaces. Supervisors (n=23) at the training workplaces participated in web-based self-learning training on worksite mental health; supervisors (n=23) at the non-training workplaces did not. A total of 81 subordinate workers under the trained supervisors (the intervention group) and 108 subordinate workers under the non-trained supervisors (the control group) completed the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) at baseline and at a three-month follow-up. No significant intervention effect was observed for any scale of the BJSQ measuring job stressors, supervisor or coworker support, or psychological distress among subordinate workers (p<0.05). The item score of work autonomy changed very little in the intervention group, while it decreased in the control group during the follow-up period, yielding a significant intervention effect (p=0.02). The item score for a friendly atmosphere in the workplace increased in the intervention group, while the score remained stable in the control group, yielding a significant intervention effect (p=0.02). While the present study failed to show any clear effect of the web-based training of supervisors on reduction of job stressors, it may be useful for maintaining worker autonomy and improving the friendliness of the worksite atmosphere.
Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Japan. norito@md.okayama-u.ac.jp
Norito
N
Kawakami
Soshi
S
Takao
Yuka
Y
Kobayashi
Akizumi
A
Tsutsumi
D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D020407:Internet; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*