This paper critically evaluates the empirical evidence of 36 studies regarding the comparative cost-effectiveness of group and individual cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as a whole, and also for specific mental disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, substance abuse) or populations (e.g. children). Methods of calculating costs, as well as methods of comparing treatment outcomes were appraised and criticized. Overall, the evidence that group CBT is more cost-effective than individual CBT is mixed, with group CBT appearing to be more cost effective in treating depression and children, but less cost effective in treating drugs and alcohol dependence, anxiety and social phobias. In addition, methodological weaknesses in the studies assessed are noted. There is a need to improve cost calculation methodology, as well as more solid and a greater number of empirical cost-effectiveness studies before a firm conclusion can be reached that group CBT is more cost effective then individual CBT.

The results demonstrate that reducing some job demands helps attenuate the stressful effects of other job demands on different employee outcomes.

No abstract

Support is often proposed as a way in which supervisors can help employees cope with the negative impact of role stressors and other workplace demands (also referred to as the stress-buffering effect). However, there are numerous findings of reverse-buffering effects of support in the stressor–strain relationship. In the present research, the extent to which supervisors’ ability to regulate their own negative emotions determines if the support they provide has a positive (buffering) or negative (reverse-buffering) effect on the relationship between role overload and employee outcomes was investigated. Three-way interactive relationships among role overload, supervisor support, and supervisor emotion management were tested in 2 samples of Australian employees in the prediction of burnout and turnover intentions. Sample 1 consisted of 139 employees from the waste services industry. Sample 2 employees were from an organization in the education and training industry (N = 125). Across both samples, the hypothesized stress-buffering effect of support from supervisors high in emotion management was supported. Results also showed that support from supervisors low in emotion management exacerbated role overload. These findings help to explain contradictory findings in the literature on the role of supervisor support in shaping employees’ responses to demands encountered in the workplace.

No abstract