Exploring and reducing stress in young restaurant workers: results of a randomized field trial
Robyn D Petree1, Kirk M Broome, Joel B Bennett
1Organizational Wellness and Learning Systems, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, USA. robyn@organizationalwellness.com
Purpose:
Young adult restaurant workers face the dual stressors of work adjustment and managing personal responsibilities. We assessed a new psychosocial/health promotion training designed to reduce these stressors in the context of restaurant work. DESIGN . A cluster-randomized trial of a training program, with surveys administered approximately 2 weeks before training and both 6 and 12 months after training.
Setting:
A national restaurant chain.
Subjects:
A total of 947 restaurant workers in 28 restaurants.
Measures:
Personal stress, exposure to problem coworkers, and personal and job characteristics.
Intervention:
Team Resilience (TR) is an interactive program for stress management, teamwork, and work-life balance. TR focuses on "five Cs" of resilience: compassion, commitment, centering, community, and confidence. ANALYSIS . Mixed-model (multilevel) analysis of covariances.
Results:
Compared with workers in control stores, workers in TR-trained stores showed significant reductions over time in exposure to problem coworkers (F[2, 80.60] = 4.48; p = .01) and in personal stress (F[2, 75.28] = 6.12; p = .003).
Conclusion:
The TR program may help young workers who face the challenges of emerging adulthood and work-life balance.
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