Effects of a Total Worker Health® leadership intervention on employee well-being and functional impairment.

Although evidence has been mounting that supervisor support training interventions promote employee job, health, and well-being outcomes, there is little understanding of the mechanisms by which such interventions operate (e.g., Hammer et al., 2022; Inceoglu et al., 2018), nor about the integration of such organizational-level interventions with individual-level interventions (e.g., Lamontagne et al., 2007). Thus, the present study attempts to unpack the mechanisms through which supervisor support training interventions operate. In addition, the present study examines an integrated Total Worker Health® intervention that combines health protection in the form of supervisor support training (i.e., family supportive supervisor behaviors and supervisor support for sleep health) with a health promotion approach in the form of feedback to improve sleep health behaviors. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial drawing on a sample of 704 full-time employees, results demonstrate that the Total Worker Health intervention improves employee job well-being (i.e., increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover intentions), personal well-being (i.e., reduced stress before bedtime), and reduces personal and social functional impairment at 9 months postbaseline through employee reports of supervisors' support for sleep at 4 months postbaseline, but not through family supportive supervisor behaviors. Effects were not found for general stress or occupational functional impairment outcomes. Implications are discussed, including theoretical mechanisms by which leadership interventions affect employees, supervisor training, as well as the role of integrated organizational and individual-level interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Supportive supervisor training improves family relationships among employee and spouse dyads.

Employee family relationships have been increasingly tied to job outcomes and are known to be a strong predictor of employee health and well-being. As such, taking steps toward uncovering actionable tools organizations can implement to foster improvements in family relationship quality is important and should not be overlooked in occupational health psychology interventions. Supportive supervisor training (SST) targets improving employees' ability to meet their nonwork needs; however, the focus and discussions of the implications tied to SST have largely excluded marital and parent-child relationships, spouses, and spousal outcomes. Further, mounting evidence suggests contextual factors shape when SST is most meaningful; however, more research is needed to uncover individual-level factors that may facilitate training effects. This study used a cluster-randomized controlled trial design to evaluate a worksite-based SST with a sample of 250 employees (separated military veterans) and their matched spouses. Using an intent-to-treat approach and 2-level random effects models, results demonstrated that the SST promoted couples' dyadic marital relationship quality 9 months following baseline. Additionally, when employees were under higher levels of baseline stress, couples' dyadic marital relationship quality and positive parenting both improved following the SST. Thus, an SST is beneficial for family relationships as reported by both employees and spouses, which goes beyond previously demonstrated employee health and well-being benefits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Can supervisor support improve daily employee well-being? Evidence of supervisor training effectiveness in a study of veteran employee emotions.

Workplace supportive supervisor interventions offer an effective, though underutilized mechanism to bolster employee well-being, which may have important benefits particularly for understudied groups such as military veterans in the civilian workforce. The present study employed a two-wave daily diary study to test the effectiveness of a supportive supervisor training on positive and negative emotions of veteran employees. Daily diaries are instrumental to understanding well-being, in that they accurately capture emotions as they are experienced without retrospective biases that reflect more global emotional assessments. Each wave (baseline and 6 months later) comprised emotion reports over 32-day periods. Thirty-five organizations were randomized into intervention and control groups; 144 veterans (91% men) participated in the daily diaries at baseline. The training significantly improved well-being facets including improvements in unactivated positive (i.e., calm) emotions at follow-up. Two significant moderation effects were also revealed for PTSD screening. For veteran employees with positive PTSD screens, the intervention functioned to reduce negative emotions. For those employees with negative PTSD screens, the intervention enhanced positive emotions. Our work highlights the benefit of workplace supervisor support to positive and negative employee mood.

Military sexual trauma among women Veterans: The buffering effect of coworker support.

Prior research has demonstrated the impact of military sexual trauma (MST) on health and well-being. However, little empirical work has been published identifying protective factors for women who have experienced MST. We examined the impact of two different forms of MST, harassment-only and assault MST, on PTSD symptoms and social functional impairment in a sample of women Veterans employed in the civilian workforce. The effects of MST were examined at three different times over a period of 9 months. We found that MST that included both harassment and assault was associated with significantly higher levels of PTSD symptoms and social functional impairment across three different time points among women Veterans employed in civilian jobs. Further, the pattern of results suggested that coworker support can buffer against these negative outcomes experienced by women who reported assault MST. Overall, findings suggest that coworker support is one critical resource for women Veterans who experienced assault MST.