Ginger C. Hanson

Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure of Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB)

Due to growing work-family demands, supervisors need to effectively exhibit family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB). Drawing on social support theory and using data from two samples of lower wage workers, the authors develop and validate a measure of FSSB, defined as behaviors exhibited by supervisors that are supportive of families. FSSB is conceptualized as a multidimensional superordinate construct with four subordinate dimensions: emotional support, instrumental support, role modeling behaviors, and creative work-family management. Results from multilevel confirmatory factor analyses and multilevel regression analyses provide evidence of construct, criterion-related, and incremental validity. The authors found FSSB to be significantly related to work-family conflict, work-family positive spillover, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions over and above measures of general supervisor support.

Development and validation of a multidimensional scale of perceived work-family positive spillover.

Although the benefits of participating in both work and family have been recognized for more than 30 years (Sieber, 1974), limited empirical research exists. One reason for this oversight is the absence of a well-established scale to measure these benefits. We present a new multidimensional scale of perceived work-family positive spillover. We conducted two studies that aided the development and validation of this scale. Our scale measures three types of work-family positive spillover: behavior-based instrumental positive spillover, value-based instrumental positive spillover, and affective positive spillover. Each of these three types of positive spillover occurs in two directions: from work to family and from family to work. We further evaluate the scales construct validity in relation to role satisfaction and self-reported mental health.

Changing work and work-family conflict: Evidence from the work, family, and health network

Schedule control and supervisor support for family and personal life may help employees manage the work-family interface. Existing data and research designs, however, have made it difficult to conclusively identify the effects of these work resources. This analysis utilizes a group-randomized trial in which some units in an information technology workplace were randomly assigned to participate in an initiative, called STAR, that targeted work practices, interactions, and expectations by (1) training supervisors on the value of demonstrating support for employees’ personal lives and (2) prompting employees to reconsider when and where they work. We find statistically significant, although modest, improvements in employees’ work-family conflict and family time adequacy, and larger changes in schedule control and supervisor support for family and personal life. We find no evidence that this intervention increased work hours or perceived job demands, as might have happened with increased permeability of work across time and space. Subgroup analyses suggest the intervention brought greater benefits to employees more vulnerable to work-family conflict. This study uses a rigorous design to investigate deliberate organizational changes and their effects on work resources and the work-family interface, advancing our understanding of the impact of social structures on individual lives.

Housing Instability Is as Strong a Predictor of Poor Health Outcomes as Level of Danger in an Abusive Relationship Findings From the SHARE Study

Advocates, clinicians, policy makers, and survivors frequently cite intimate partner violence (IPV) as an immediate cause of or precursor to housing problems. Research has indicated an association between homelessness and IPV, yet few studies examine IPV and housing instability. Housing instability differs from homelessness, in that someone experiencing housing instability may currently have a place to live but faces difficulties with maintaining the residence. We present baseline findings from a longitudinal cohort study of 278 female IPV survivors with housing as a primary concern. Our analysis indicates the greater the number of housing instability risk factors (e.g., eviction notice, problems with landlord, moving multiple times), the more likely the abused woman reported symptoms consistent with PTSD (p < .001), depression (p < .001), reduced quality of life (p < .001), increased work/school absence (OR = 1.28, p < .004), and increased hospital/emergency department use (OR = 1.22, p < .001). These outcomes persist even when controlling for the level of danger in the abusive relationship and for survivors’ drug and alcohol use. Importantly, both housing instability and danger level had stronger associations with negative health outcomes than other factors such as age, alcohol, and drug use; both make unique contributions to negative health outcomes and could contribute in different ways. Housing instability is an important and understudied social determinant of health for IPV survivors. These findings begin to address the literature gap on the relationship between housing instability, IPV, and survivors’ health, employment, and utilization of medical care services.

Use of Online Safety Decision Aid by Abused Women: Effect on Decisional Conflict in a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND An Internet safety decision aid was developed to help abused women understand their risk for repeat and near-lethal intimate partner violence, clarify priorities related to safety, and develop an action plan customized to these priorities. PURPOSE To test the effectiveness of a safety decision aid compared with usual safety planning (control) delivered through a secure website, using a multistate RCT design. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of the safety decision aid in reducing decisional conflict after a single use by abused women. DESIGN RCT referred to as Internet Resource for Intervention and Safety (IRIS). SETTING/PARTICIPANTS Abused women who spoke English (n=708) were enrolled in a four-state RCT. INTERVENTION The intervention was an interactive safety decision aid with personalized safety plan; the control condition was usual safety planning resources. Both were delivered to participants through the secure study website. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES This paper compares womens decisional conflict about safety: total decisional conflict and the four subscales of this measure (feeling: uninformed, uncertain, unsupported, and unclear about safety priorities) between intervention/control conditions. Data were collected from March 2011 to May 2013 and analyzed from January to March 2014. RESULTS Immediately following the first use of the interactive safety decision aid, intervention women had significantly lower total decisional conflict than control women, controlling for baseline value of decisional conflict (p=0.002, effect size=0.12). After controlling for baseline values, the safety decision aid group had significantly greater reduction in feeling uncertain (p=0.006, effect size=0.07) and in feeling unsupported (p=0.008, effect size=0.07) about safety than the usual safety planning group. CONCLUSIONS Abused women randomized to the safety decision aid reported less decisional conflict about their safety in the abusive intimate relationship after one use compared to women randomized to the usual safety planning condition.

Patterns of Workplace Supervisor Support Desired by Abused Women

The purpose of this study was to understand differences in patterns of supervisor support desired by female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and to examine whether the pattern of support desired at work is reflective of a woman’s stage of change in the abusive relationship, IPV-related work interference, and IPV-related job reprimands or job loss. We conducted interviews in Spanish or English with adult women working in low-income jobs who had been physically or sexually abused by an intimate partner/ ex-partner in the past year ( N = 133). Cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters that form a hierarchy of type of support wanted: those who desired limited support; those who desired confidential, time-off, and emotional support; and those who desired support in wide variety of ways from their supervisor. The clusters appeared to reflect stages of behavior change in an abusive relationship. Specifically, the limited-support cluster may represent an early precontemplation stage, with women reporting the least interference with work. The support-in-every-way cluster may represent later stages of change, in which women are breaking away from the abusive partner and report the greatest interference with work. Women in the confidential-, time-off-, and emotional-support cluster are in a transition stage in which they are considering change and are exploring options in their abusive relationship. Understanding the hierarchy of the type of support desired, and its relationship to stages of change in the abusive relationship and work interference, may provide a strong foundation for developing appropriate and effective workplace interventions to guide supervisors in providing support to women experiencing IPV.

Parents' Daily Time With Their Children: A Workplace Intervention

OBJECTIVES: In the context of a group randomized field trial, we evaluated whether parents who participated in a workplace intervention, designed to increase supervisor support for personal and family life and schedule control, reported significantly more daily time with their children at the 12-month follow-up compared with parents assigned to the Usual Practice group. We also tested whether the intervention effect was moderated by parent gender, child gender, or child age. METHODS: The Support-Transform-Achieve-Results Intervention was delivered in an information technology division of a US Fortune 500 company. Participants included 93 parents (45% mothers) of a randomly selected focal child aged 9 to 17 years (49% daughters) who completed daily telephone diaries at baseline and 12 months after intervention. During evening telephone calls on 8 consecutive days, parents reported how much time they spent with their child that day. RESULTS: Parents in the intervention group exhibited a significant increase in parent-child shared time, 39 minutes per day on average, between baseline and the 12-month follow-up. By contrast, parents in the Usual Practice group averaged 24 fewer minutes with their child per day at the 12-month follow-up. Intervention effects were evident for mothers but not for fathers and for daughters but not sons. CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesis that the intervention would improve parents’ daily time with their children was supported. Future studies should examine how redesigning work can change the quality of parent-child interactions and activities known to be important for youth health and development.

Sleep, Dietary, and Exercise Behavioral Clusters Among Truck Drivers With Obesity: Implications for Interventions.

Objective: The objectives of the study were to describe a sample of truck drivers, identify clusters of drivers with similar patterns in behaviors affecting energy balance (sleep, diet, and exercise), and test for cluster differences in health, safety, and psychosocial factors. Methods: Participants’ (n = 452, body mass index M = 37.2, 86.4% male) self-reported behaviors were dichotomized prior to hierarchical cluster analysis, which identified groups with similar behavior covariation. Cluster differences were tested with generalized estimating equations. Results: Five behavioral clusters were identified that differed significantly in age, smoking status, diabetes prevalence, lost work days, stress, and social support, but not in body mass index. Cluster 2, characterized by the best sleep quality, had significantly lower lost workdays and stress than other clusters. Conclusions: Weight management interventions for drivers should explicitly address sleep, and may be maximally effective after establishing socially supportive work environments that reduce stress exposures.

Employee Reactions to a Reduction in Benefit-Related Compensation: A Fairness Perspective

Many organizations are shifting the financial burden of increased costs of medical benefits to employees. The effects of the changes in benefits on employee outcomes are not fully understood. The present study examined how employees reacted to a reduction in benefit-related compensation and how potential negative reactions can be minimized. Data from 229 employees showed that preference for how medical benefits should be distributed (equality versus need-based distributions) as well as past utilization of benefits were related to perceptions of distributive organizational justice. Perceptions of procedural organizational justice were predicted by employee perceptions of how well the benefit changes were communicated and by past utilization of benefits. Providing additional information to employees about changes in benefits, and providing employee voice, increased employee perceptions of informational justice.

The Longitudinal Impact of an Internet Safety Decision Aid for Abused Women

INTRODUCTION Women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) navigate complex, dangerous decisions. Tailored safety information and safety planning, typically provided by domestic violence service providers, can prevent repeat IPV exposure and associated adverse health outcomes; however, few abused women access these services. The Internet represents a potentially innovative way to connect abused women with tailored safety planning resources and information. The purpose of this study was to compare safety and mental health outcomes at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months among abused women randomized to: (1) a tailored, Internet-based safety decision aid; or (2) control website (typical safety information available online). DESIGN Multistate, community-based longitudinal RCT with one-to-one allocation ratio and blocked randomization. Data were collected March 2011-May 2013 and analyzed June-July 2015. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS Currently abused Spanish- or English-speaking women (N=720). INTERVENTION A tailored Internet-based safety decision aid included priority-setting activities, risk assessment, and tailored feedback and safety plans. A control website offered typical safety information available online. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Primary outcomes were decisional conflict, safety behaviors, and repeat IPV; secondary outcomes included depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. RESULTS At 12 months, there were no significant group differences in IPV, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Intervention women experienced significantly less decisional conflict after one use (β= -2.68, p=0.042) and greater increase in safety behaviors they rated as helpful from baseline to 12 months (12% vs 9%, p=0.033) and were more likely to have left the abuser (63% vs 53%, p=0.008). Women who left had higher baseline risk (14.9 vs 13.1, p=0.003) found more of the safety behaviors they tried helpful (61.1% vs 47.5%, p<0.001), and had greater reductions in psychological IPV ((11.69 vs 7.5, p=0.001) and sexual IPV (2.41 vs 1.25, p=0.001) than women who stayed. CONCLUSIONS Internet-based safety planning represents a promising tool to reduce the public health impact of IPV.