Supervisor support training effects on veteran health and work outcomes in the civilian workplace.

Abstract

This randomized controlled trial involved the development and evaluation of a supervisor support training intervention in the civilian workforce called VSST: Veteran-Supportive Supervisor Training. A theoretically based intervention in the workplace is critical to ensuring a smooth transition for service members and their families to civilian life, leading to improved psychological and physical health and improved work outcomes among service members. Thirty-five organizations were recruited and randomized to the VSST training program or a waitlist control group. Within those organizations, 497 current or former (post 9/11) service member employees were asked to complete baseline and 3-and 9-month follow-up surveys covering work, family, and health domains. The computerized 1-hr training, and the behavior tracking that followed were completed by 928 supervisors from the participating organizations. Intervention training effects were evaluated using an intent-to-treat approach, comparing outcomes for service members who were in organizations assigned to the training group versus those who were in organizations assigned to the control group. Moderation effects revealed the intervention was effective for employees who reported higher levels of supervisor and coworker support at baseline, demonstrating the importance of the organizational context and trainee readiness. The results did not show evidence of direct effects of the intervention on health and work outcomes. Qualitative data from supervisors who took the training also demonstrated the benefits of the training. This study affirms and adds to the literature on the positive effects of organizational programs that train supervisors to provide social support, thereby improving health and work outcomes of employees who receive more support.

Health-Promoting Leadership during an Infectious Disease Outbreak: A Cross-sectional Study of US Soldiers Deployed to Liberia

“…Still, approximately one in three soldiers reported that their leaders did not frequently engage in health-promoting behaviors, including encouraging preventive medicine practices, this suggests opportunities for improvement. Future research should examine the degree to which such these behaviors can be easily trained and encouraged in front-line supervisors, modeled on other domainspeci c leadership training (60,65). Future research should build on the health-promoting leadership behaviors included here and examine the relevance of additional behaviors speci c to particular infectious disease outbreaks.…”

Formal and Informal Supports for Managing Work and Family

“…Family-supportive supervision interventions teach supervisors supportive behavior and use behavior monitoring to track supportive behavior provision. Results show that supportive supervision interventions have the potential to improve occupational health and well-being for workers and their family members (e.g., Hammer, Wan, Brockwood, Bodner, & Mohr, 2019), although evidence that supervisor support improves work–family conflict, work–family enrichment, or work–family balance is still tentative. We echo previous calls to increase the use of designs that can disentangle causal ordering and challenge our current understanding of how support develops and why support is helpful for managing work and family (Kelly et al, 2008).…”

Can supervisor support improve daily employee well‐being? Evidence of supervisor training effectiveness in a study of veteran employee emotions

“…This coincides with recent calls for more research on this underserved population of employees (e.g., Colella, Hebl, & King, 2017). Although many veterans make the transition seamlessly, some need greater support, and the workplace is an effective context for interventions demonstrated to improve psychological health (Hammer, Wan, Brockwood, Bodner, & Mohr, 2019) and the work–family interface, especially for higher‐stressed employees (Hammer, Kossek, Anger, Bodner, & Zimmerman, 2011). Indeed, a subset of post‐9/11 veterans experience post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; about 13.5%; Dursa, Reinhard, Barth, & Schneiderman, 2014) and thus may have particular support needs.…”