Expanding Behavioral and Occupational Health Research in Military Police.

INTRODUCTION: It is important to understand the behavioral and occupational health needs of military police personnel, a high-risk and understudied population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The incidence rates of behavioral and occupational conditions were examined from the years of 2005 to 2021 from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database. Single-sample chi-square analyses were performed to analyze the differences in the incidence rates across demographic groups relative to population density. RESULTS: There were moderate-to-large increases in sleep-related disorders and mood or stress-related disorders. There were also patterns of overrepresentation or underrepresentation in diagnoses of various conditions by sex, age group, marital status, race, service branch, and pay grade. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to provide tailored resources and programming to employees in high-stress settings to help prevent or manage behavioral and occupational health conditions and reduce the stigma surrounding the utilization of such resources and programs.

Using Virtual Reality to Bring Restorative Environments to Employees: An Online Pilot Study.

Employees face many demands throughout the workday. Participating in activities can help employees recover from the pressures of work, and physical activity and time spent in nature are among the most beneficial. Simulations of nature offer some of the benefits of actual contact with nature and can address some of the barriers to exercising outdoors that some employees may face. In this pilot study, we examine the influence of physical activity and virtual or actual nature contact on affect, boredom, and satisfaction when experienced during a break from a demanding work task. Twenty-five employed adults participated in an online study in which they completed a problem-solving task, completed a twenty-minute break, and then completed another session of the problem-solving task. During the break, participants were randomized to either a control condition, a physical activity and low-fidelity virtual nature contact condition, a physical activity and high-fidelity virtual nature contact condition, or a physical activity and actual nature contact condition. An examination of the means of affect, boredom, and satisfaction before, during, and after the break revealed that those in high-fidelity virtual nature and actual nature contact conditions seemed to report more positive well-being during the break. The results highlight that to help employees recover from work demands, it could be important to take breaks, be physically active, and have contact with nature, which should be simulated in high fidelity if actual nature contact cannot be achieved.

Understanding recovery and resilience from natural disasters in hospitality organizations.

Extreme weather events, such as Hurricane María, shed light on the importance of understanding the factors that promote resilience, defined as bouncing back after adverse events. The current study took a qualitative focus group approach toward understanding resilience in employees of the hospitality industry after Hurricane María. The hospitality industry plays an important role in disaster responses due to its role in supporting local and national economies, job stability for vulnerable employees, and in supporting response efforts, eg, housing aid workers. Through a series of in-depth focus groups, employees from San Juan, Puerto Rico and surrounding areas shared their Hurricane María experiences in terms of themselves as individuals, their workplaces, and their community. Major themes focused on the importance of the preparedness phase of the disaster response timeline, measuring impact and response on multiple levels in interdependent systems, creating and promoting awareness of resources, and acknowledging both struggle and strength when conceptualizing transformative potential. These findings can inform actionable strategies for individuals, organizations, and communities.

Rapid human subjects research in times of disruption.

One significant challenge facing the implementation of rapid research studies, or research that responds quickly to societal needs, involves the recruitment and retention of human subjects research participants. The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the nuances of conducting rapid research during times of disruption. The first-hand accounts of participants experiencing disruption are critical and perishable. Although it may be difficult to recruit and retain participants, their data are needed to best understand and learn from novel, unprecedented situations. To this end, the authors draw from and analyze their experience conducting rapid research funded by the National Science Foundation to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate education. The paper begins with a summary of the rapid project aims and research questions. Then, participant recruitment and retention challenges are briefly introduced as an advanced organizer of the paper. From there, the paper is structured in three sections that represent the human subjects research challenges faced during rapid study implementation. In the discussion, the authors summarize the above challenges and lessons learned in the larger context of rapid research. They reflect on a sometimes-forgotten issue: the wellbeing of research team members who face these and other salient challenges reflective of navigating life during a worldwide pandemic. By describing human subjects research challenges experienced in the implementation of a rapid study and lessons learned from experiencing and adapting to these challenges, this paper contributes meaningful insights into the daily challenges of carrying out rapid research.

Frame of reference training for content analysis with structured teams (FORT-CAST): A framework for content analysis of open-ended survey questions using multidisciplinary coders.

In the context of a global pandemic, the need for reliable analysis of qualitative data in healthcare has never been more pressing. Open-ended questions are a feasible way for both researchers and organizational stakeholders to gain deeper insight into complex situations when timely research is needed. However, the interpretation of brief, textual responses can prove problematic. Both manual and automated/semiautomated methods of coding qualitative data have been associated with errors and costly temporal delays. Data obtained from the qualitative analysis of open-ended questions have been questioned for lacking robust insights. The present article introduces an innovative, manual, team-based method of analyzing responses to open-ended survey questions. This method was developed and implemented at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the needs of nurses and their perceptions of organizational strategies that were implemented to address pandemic-related challenges. This framework utilizes a dedicated project management structure, general purpose software for data collection and analysis, frame-of-reference training designed for an interdisciplinary team of coders, and data analysis procedures that align with qualitative content analysis procedures. In concert, these techniques empower researchd team members with varying backgrounds and disparate levels of experience to provide unique human insights to data analysis procedures, refine the coding process, and support the abstraction of meaningful themes that were used to prioritize organizational strategies and further support nurses as the pandemic progressed.

Here for My Peer: The Future of First Responder Mental Health.

Workplace interventions that leverage social tactics to improve health and well-being are becoming more common. As an example, peer mental health support interventions aim to reduce stigma and promote treatment seeking in first responder populations. Given the social nature of these interventions, it is important to consider how the preexisting social context influences intervention outcomes. A peer mental health support intervention was delivered among first responders, and self-efficacy and intention to have supportive peer conversations were measured pre-and post-intervention. Trust in peers was measured prior to the intervention. Results suggest a floor effect may exist for self-efficacy, in which a foundational level of trust and pre-intervention self-efficacy may be needed to maximize intervention effectiveness. As the future of work brings complex safety and health challenges, collaborative solutions that engage multiple stakeholders (employees, their peers, and their organization) will be needed. This study suggests that more frequent attention to pre-existing intervention context, particularly social context in peer-focused intervention, will enhance intervention outcomes.

The "What", "Why" and "Whom" of Interrole Interference Among Home-Based Teleworkers.

Many employees are drawn to work-from-home arrangements based on expectations that such arrangements will help them manage both work and home life more effectively. Yet, mixed empirical findings suggest that telework arrangements do not uniformly result in less interrole interference (i.e., work-home and home-work interference). Applying and extending a border theory perspective, the present research offers insight into what factors may predict interrole interference, mediating mechanisms that may explain why such interference occurs, and a moderator that tests for whom interference is most damaging when employees work from home. Specifically, we test cross-role interruption behaviors as a predictor of interrole interference, with recovery experiences as a mediator of this relation and work-life border segmentation preference as a moderator. A sample of 504 home-based teleworkers recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk participated in a three-wave survey. Results from a structural equation modeling approach support our overall model. However, the extent and valence of the impact of cross-role interruption behaviors had on teleworkers' interrole interference depended on the direction of the interruption, type of recovery experience, and personal work-life border preference. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights that may help explain the gap between expected and actual occurrence of interrole interference in home-based telework arrangements.

Industry Context as an Essential Tool for the Future of Healthy and Safe Work: Illustrative Examples for Occupational Health Psychology from the Hospitality Industry.

Contextual nuance holds value for occupational health and safety, particularly as workplace challenges and solutions become more complex. However, disciplines that inform occupational safety and health vary in the degree to which they target breadth and depth of understanding. The future of work presents challenges related to work, the workplace, and the workforce, and an appreciation of the context of industry will ready researchers and practitioners with the most informed solutions. Broadly developed solutions for future of work challenges may flounder without an appreciation for the context of industry, as evidenced by two examples provided in this review. As occupational safety and health disciplines answer the call provided by the future of work, this review provides an account for the value of industry context and recommendations for achieving both breadth and depth of scientific inquiry and practical reach.

The Application of the Theory Coding Scheme to Interventions in Occupational Health Psychology.

OBJECTIVE: There is a need to understand how and to what extent theory is used to inform occupational health psychology (OHP) interventions. This study examines the utility of Michie and Prestwich1 theory coding scheme (TCS) to examine the theoretical base of OHP interventions. METHODS: We applied the TCS to a systematically derived sample of 27 papers that reported evaluation data for work-related interventions seeking to improve employee sleep quantity or quality. RESULTS: Results indicated that the original TCS was largely applicable to OHP sleep interventions. After several minor modifications to its evaluative criteria, the TCS successfully accommodates a range of OHP intervention designs. CONCLUSIONS: The revised TCS for OHP interventions allows for a more detailed understanding of the role and use of theory in OHP interventions and may prove to be a valuable tool for OHP researchers and practitioners.

A Review of the Challenge-Hindrance Stress Model: Recent Advances, Expanded Paradigms, and Recommendations for Future Research.

Since its introduction approximately 20 years ago, the Challenge-Hindrance Stress Model (CHM) has been widely accepted both among academic and practitioner audiences. The model posits that workplace stressors can be grouped into two categories. Hindrance stressors will interfere with performance or goals, while challenge stressors contribute to performance opportunities. These two categories of stressors are theorized to exhibit differential relationships with strain, with hindrance stressors being more consistently linked to psychological, physical, or behavioral strain compared to challenge stressors. Despite the popularity of this model, recent evidence suggests that the proposed differential relationship hypothesis has not consistently held true for all types of strain. Thus, a reexamination or modification of this paradigm is clearly warranted. In the present review, we describe existing evidence surrounding the CHM and describe the rationale for a shifting paradigm. We outline recent advances in research using the CHM, such as novel moderators and mediators, the need to explicitly measure challenge and hindrance appraisal and differentiate between hindrance and threat appraisal, the dynamic nature of these appraisals over time, and the recognition that a single stressor could be appraised simultaneously as both a challenge and a hindrance. Finally, we provide recommendations and future research directions for scholars examining stress and stress management through a CHM lens, including recommendations related to study design, the measurement of stressors, the integration of CHM with other models of stress, and interventions for stress management.

The relationship between physical work hazards and employee withdrawal: The moderating role of safety compliance.

We examined the relationship between physical work hazards and employee withdrawal among a sample of health care employees wherein safety compliance was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between physical work hazards and withdrawal. Health care workers (N = 162) completed an online questionnaire assessing physical work hazards, withdrawal, and indicators of workplace safety. Safety compliance moderated the relationship between patient aggression and withdrawal. Interaction plots revealed that for all significant moderations, the relationship between physical work hazards and withdrawal was weaker for those who reported high levels of compliance. Results shed initial light on the benefits of fostering safety compliance in health care contexts, which can contain exposure to physical work hazards.