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Interventions to improve mental health can target individuals, working groups, their leaders, or organisations, also known as the Individual, Group, Leader, and Organisational (IGLO) levels of intervention. Evaluating such interventions in organisational settings is complex and requires sophisticated evaluation designs taking into account the intervention process. In the present systematic literature review, we present state of the-art of quantitative measures of process evaluation. We identified 39 papers. We found that measures had been developed to explore the organisational context, the intervention design, and the mental models of the intervention and its activities. Quantitative process measures are often poorly validated, and only around half of the studies linked the process to intervention outcomes. Fifteen studies used mixed methods for process evaluation. Most often, a qualitative process evaluation was used to understand unexpected intervention outcomes. Despite the existence of theoretical process evaluation frameworks, these were not often employed, and even when included, frameworks were rarely acknowledged, and only selected elements were included. Based on our synthesis, we propose a new framework for evaluating interventions, the Integrative Process Evaluation Framework (IPEF), together with reflections on how we may optimise the use of quantitative process evaluation in conjunction with a qualitative process evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the Integrated Training Transfer and Effectiveness Model (ITTEM), a dynamic model integrating dominant training transfer and training effectiveness models that can be used to evaluate whether mental health and wellbeing training interventions are transferred to the workplace and result in changes in emotions, cognitions and behaviours post-training. Through the integration of training transfer and training effectiveness literatures, the ITTEM aims to further our understanding of how we may enhance the effectiveness of training through optimising training transfer. We employ realist evaluation as our theoretical framework and argue that developing our understanding of what works for whom in which circumstances will enable us to improve how we design, implement, and evaluate training. We propose that pre- and post-training contextual factors influence the extent to which training mechanisms are triggered and bring about intended outcomes, in terms of emotions, cognitions, behaviours and improved employee mental health and wellbeing. The ITTEM can be used to develop our understanding of how and when training succeeds or fails. The ITTEM provides valuable insights in to how organisations may design future training to maximise the impact of transfer thus achieving the aims of protecting and promoting mental health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) construct and its role in attenuating the negative effects of job demands (i.e. emotional and psychological) on psychological health (distress, emotional exhaustion, and depression). In particular, we used composition theory to understand how organisational PSC could be derived from individual perceptions of PSC. We introduce a relatively new construct, PSC Ideal, which combines PSC level and dispersion (variability; SD). We expected that the attenuating role would be strongest when organisational PSC Ideal was high; high (on level) and strong (less variability). Statistically, PSC Ideal implies taking account of PSC Level and its variability simultaneously. A hierarchical sample of 41 organisations with 495 participants was analysed from Australian Workplace Barometer data. In four out of six analyses, PSC Ideal significantly moderated the effects of job demands (particularly emotional demands) on psychological health (emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, depression). The promising moderation role of PSC Ideal implies that the disruption of the job demands and poor psychological health relationship requires consideration of PSC levels and strength in combination, rather than level alone. Theoretical and practical recommendations highlight the role of PSC Ideal in ameliorating and preventing the negative impact of work demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study examined construct validity evidence for a measure of perceptions of Stress as a Badge of Honour, consisting of four dimensions: stress as achievement, relaxation remorse, stress-related social comparison, and stress-related impression management. A pilot study among college students (Study 1; N = 120) informed the initial development of the measure, which was further tested in two worker samples recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The results of Study 2 (N = 248) supported a four-factor structure of the measure. Study 3 utilised data collected at two time points (Matched N = 752), assessing stress badge perceptions, convergent and discriminant validity measures (Time 1), and measures of health, well-being, and performance (Time 2). The four subscales were related to, but unique from, convergent validity measures (e.g. workaholism, perfectionism) and were not highly related to discriminant validity measures (i.e. social desirability, positive and negative affect). The stress badge perceptions demonstrated some positive relationships with job performance, but predominantly negative relationships with psychological and physical health, and work-family conflict. Our findings expand our understanding of the dark side of viewing high stress in a laudatory manner by introducing a novel measure and can inform interventions to promote optimal views of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexibility regarding where and when work is completed is becoming increasingly available to employees, especially following the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent shift in the nature of work. There is a plethora of research linking various flexible work arrangements (FWA) to a variety of positive outcomes across domains including reduced work–family conflict, better psychological health, and increased role satisfaction. While several studies have suggested that FWA are related to positive health, others have found no relationship between flexible work arrangements and health outcomes. To clarify these inconsistent findings, the current meta-analytic review (k = 33, n = 90,602) examines the relationship between flexible work arrangements available to employees and health behaviours and outcomes, specifically physical health, absenteeism, somatic symptoms, and physical activity. Results demonstrate that FWA are associated with better physical health, reduced absenteeism, and fewer somatic symptoms, suggesting that flexible work arrangements can facilitate employees in maintaining their health. There was no association between FWA and physical activity, though these results should be interpreted cautiously given the limited number of primary studies examining this relationship. These findings hold implications for future research and practice, including support for offering individualised flexible work arrangements as means of promoting employee health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific literature on workplace interventions that target individual-level determinants of mental health for primary or secondary prevention is mixed, with many studies failing to show statistically significant, sizeable effects. A methodological characteristic that may explain these mixed findings is fidelity, a multidimensional construct that captures the extent to which an intervention is implemented as intended, in a standardized manner. In this narrative review, we examined the extent to which workplace mental health intervention studies try to enhance or measure the twelve different dimensions of fidelity that have been identified. We conducted comprehensive searches of MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO. Following review, 370 articles were selected for inclusion, of which only 21% explicitly mentioned fidelity. About two-thirds of the articles considered less than half of all relevant fidelity dimensions. Most studies tried to enhance rather than measure fidelity. Only a handful of included studies (n=7, 2%) measured half or more of all relevant fidelity dimensions. Some fidelity dimensions (e.g. theoretical) were considered less often than others (e.g. receipt and enactment). Our review shows that fidelity is insufficiently considered in current workplace mental health literature. We discuss implications for internal and external validity, scalability, and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]