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Work-related stress can be recognized as a widespread phenomenon that influences individuals, organizations, and society. Stress and work-related stress are complex issues that involve and are influenced by different factors at different levels. This exploratory study aimed to get a deeper understanding of operational managers' perceived assumptions regarding work-related stress for nurse assistants who work in elderly home care in different municipalities. Additionally, this thesis attempted to identify the municipalities’ organizational and individual interventions and investigate how they evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. Applying the qualitative method with deductive reasoning and using semi-structured interviews (N=5) resulted in two core categories “multiple dimensions of stress and stress interventions” and “lack of effective tools”. The operational managers expressed that there is continuous a challenge to getting more budget from government to implement more effective interventions, however, they claimed that individuals' lifestyles and situations can not be ignored. Moreover, analyzing respondents’ interviews indicated that there is a lack of effective tools to evaluate organizational effectiveness. Finally, according to all respondents, municipalities do not have regular leadership training for unit managers or healthy workshops for nurse assistants to promote healthy working conditions. This study highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in investigating work-related studies including political power relations and economic contexts.

This two-part study was conducted as part of a larger project exploring leadership, organizational processes, and performance in local governments. In Study 1, we conducted interviews with exemplary leaders in local governments across a medium sized southeastern state. Results of these interviews suggested leadership and organizational processes consistent with organizational mindfulness. In Study 2, we created a survey instrument based on existing work in organizational mindfulness. Responses from 96 local governments provided evidence suggesting that organizational mindfulness is related to self reports of organizational performance. We end with a discussion of these results, study limitations, and opportunities for future research.

Individers upplevelse av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön har visat sig hänga samman med trivsel, hälsa och välbefinnande. I ett långsiktigt perspektiv kan en god psykosocial arbetsmiljö främja kvalitet och produktivitet i organisationer, medan en sämre arbetsmiljö kan resultera i det motsatta. Arbetsgivare, som i Sverige har ett yttersta arbetsmiljöansvar, strävar efter att arbeta förebyggande och systematiskt med fokus på psykosociala arbetsmiljöinsatser. Samtidigt utgör individerna en del av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön och i samband med att de utför sitt arbete bidrar de även till formandet av arbetsmiljön. Med detta som utgångspunkt syftar avhandlingen till att studera psykosociala och personliga faktorer i form av krav och resurser, hälsa och välbefinnande samt ett organisatoriskt förebyggande program för anställda i välfärdssektorn. Detta har gjorts genom att undersöka hur olika krav och resurser i arbetet samt personliga resurser relaterar till olika hälsorelaterade utfall. Vidare har två varianter av ett nyutvecklat interventionsprogram med fokus på psykosociala faktorer och personliga resurser undersökts och utvärderats. En variant av programmet var riktad till både chefer och medarbetare, medan den andra varianten riktades enbart till chefer. Interventionsprogrammen undersöktes utifrån genomförbarhet och utifrån effektutvärdering. Resultaten visar att resurser i arbetet verkar ha mer hälsofrämjande potential än personliga resurser. Vidare visar resultaten att det program som inkluderade medarbetare och chefer accepterades av deltagarna och gick att genomföra praktiskt. Resultaten visar också att effekterna av båda programmen var oklara. Sammantaget visar avhandlingen på vikten av att såväl reducera krav i arbetet som att främja olika resurser, men även på de utmaningar som finns i att utforma, genomföra och utvärdera förebyggande organisatoriska interventioner. / Individuals’ experiences of the psychosocial work environment have been linked to their satisfaction, health, and well-being. In the long run, a favorable psychosocial work environment seems related to organizational quality and productivity, while a poorer psychosocial work environment may relate to the opposite. Employers, who in Sweden have the ultimate responsibility for the work environment, aim for systematic preventive efforts focusing particularly on factors of the psychosocial work environment. Additionally, individuals also form part of the psychosocial work environment, and may, through their own daily work practices contribute to creating the work environment. Based on this, the aim of this thesis is to study how psychosocial factors, in terms of demands and resources, and personal resources at work relate to health and well-being but also to investigate the effects of an organizational preventive intervention program. Specifically, job demands, job resources, and personal resources and their relations with health-related outcomes among employees of the Swedish welfare sector were investigated. Also, two versions of a newly developed intervention program focusing on psychosocial factors and personal resources were examined. This included a feasibility study of one program version offered to both employees and managers and an effect evaluation of another version offered to managers only. The results show that job resources seem to have a stronger health-promoting potential than personal resources. Moreover, the results show that while the program offered to both employees and managers was accepted by participants and found possible to implement practically, its effect were small. Similarly, effects of the program including managers only were also small. Overall, the thesis shows the importance of reducing job demands along with promoting different resources, but emphasizes the challenges in developing, implementing, and evaluating preventive organizational interventions. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>