Stress management interventions in the Dutch domiciliary care sector: Findings from 81 organizations

Abstract

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a large-scale job stress reduction program implemented in the Dutch domiciliary care sector. The employees of 81 organizations were interviewed twice (only nurses in executive jobs; total sample size exceeded 26,000). Organizations that implemented many interventions were expected to be more successful in reducing job stress than were other organizations. It was found that (a) levels of job stress decreased during the observed interval; (b) organizations with many suboptimal scores on selected work characteristics took, on average, more measures to reduce job stress than others; (c) organizations usually implemented a wide variety of measures; and (d) work-directed (but not other) interventions were linked to job stress reduction. The effects of these interventions, however, were weak.