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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 14 - 2023 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1232172

Beneficial effects of a cognitive-behaviorally-based occupational stress management training: the mediating role of changing cognitions

Provisionally accepted
Petra H. Wirtz Petra H. Wirtz 1Alisa Auer Alisa Auer 1*Norbert K. Semmer Norbert K. Semmer 2Ulrike Ehlert Ulrike Ehlert 3Fridtjof W. Nussbeck Fridtjof W. Nussbeck 1
  • 1 University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • 2 University of Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 3 University of Zurich, Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: While the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral stress management trainings (SMT) is well documented, the underlying mechanisms, especially in an occupational context, are not fully understood. We tested whether SMT-induced improvements in stress management skills, in particular in mastery of changing cognitions, may explain beneficial SMT effects. Methods: Our non-randomized controlled trial comprised 108 employees of a German health insurance company with 65 participating in a cognitive-behavioral SMT and 43 participating in an alternative control training (AT). As outcome variables we repeatedly assessed stress-related (functional stress management skills, relaxation, stress reactivity, exhaustion), work-related (job dissatisfaction), and specific-context-related (social support, trait anger) measures at baseline, two weeks, and three months after the trainings. Functional stress management skills and in particular a subscale assessing perceived mastery of changing cognitions (“cognitive-strategies-and-problem-solving”) were tested as mediators of change. Results: Repeated measures (M)AN(C)OVAs and complementary multigroup latent difference models confirmed improvements in all outcomes in the SMT-group compared to the AT-group (p`s≤.015). Multivariate mediation path analyses revealed that regarding mechanisms of change, the subscale cognitive-strategies-and-problem-solving was identified as the most important mediator for all outcomes (95%CIs for expected increases in SMT- vs. AT-group=[lower limits(LLs)≥.004]; 95%CIs for expected decreases in SMT- vs. AT-group=[upper limits(ULs)≤-.078]) except for job dissatisfaction. Discussion: Our findings confirm that employees can effectively learn to master stress reduction techniques and consequently lower resulting burden. Moreover, beneficial SMT effects seem to result from improvements in functional stress management skills, particularly in the ability of changing cognitions. This points to the importance of training cognitive techniques.

    Keywords: Cognitive-behavioral stress management training, cognitive restructuring, perceived mastery of functional stress management skills, exhaustion, job dissatisfaction

    Received: 01 Jun 2023; Accepted: 12 Oct 2023.

    Copyright: © 2023 Wirtz, Auer, Semmer, Ehlert and Nussbeck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alisa Auer, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 78464, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.