About Part II of this book

  Part II provides a range of interventions for tackling occupational stress. Researchers in the field have identified three levels of interventions for managing work related stress more effectively, known as primary, secondary and tertiary level interventions. Part II (Chapters 3 to ) covers these three levels of intervention respectively.

Primary level interventions

  Primary level interventions are aimed at changing the work environment itself to reduce or eliminate the cause of the stress at its source. These are covered in Chapter 3. However, sometimes it is not possible to change the work environment either because it is uneconomical for the employer to do this, or because there are aspects of the job itself that are inherently stressful. For example, if an individual is working in the emergency services or armed forces, there will clearly be stressful aspects of the job that cannot be removed. Where this is the case and the sources of stress cannot be readily removed, secondary level interventions are considered to be more appropriate.

Secondary level interventions

  Secondary level interventions aim to teach the employee a range of coping skills or strategies to help buffer them against an inherently stressful environment and to assist them to develop the confidence to look after themselves more effectively in situations that would in actual fact be stressful to anyone. These are covered in Chapters 4 to 9.

Tertiary level interventions

  Tertiary level interventions are appropriate when secondary level interventions are ineffective and the individual is experiencing one of the stress syndromes outlined in Chapter 1, which is impacting on their capacity to be productive in the work setting, or even to remain at work (p. 11). These aim to reduce and, it is hoped, eliminate the clinical level of distress they are experiencing by providing psychological therapy to assist them to return to their previous normal levels of productivity. Tertiary level interventions are covered in .

Part II

Interventions for occupational stress

Chapter 3

Primary level interventions aimed at improving your work environment

  Introduction

  This chapter focuses specifically on primary level interventions, which aim to reduce or eliminate the causes of stress in the work environment itself. Some jobs are inherently stressful, for example, working in the emergency services as a police officer, ambulance driver or firefighter, or as a soldier during wartime. The primary level interventions outlined in this chapter will not be appropriate in the context of these kinds of jobs because the stress experienced is an inherent part of the job. Where the working environment is largely free from such inherent stressors and the stress experienced is the result of badly organized work and/or poor management practices, the primary level interventions outlined in this chapter are the appropriate ones to use. However, it is recommended that you do a job analysis before deciding which primary level interventions to use. The reasons for this are outlined below.