Getting to Know You: Occupational Health Researchers Investigate Employee Assistance Professionals' Approaches to Workplace Stress

Abstract

Workplace stress is strongly associated with health problems, including cardiovascular disease. The occupational health field is developing partnerships with a variety of health professions to prevent and address job stress at the organizational level. A review of literature for and about employee assistance professionals was conducted to explore their perspectives on these issues. Results show high awareness regarding the health effects of job stress and a wide range of approaches to address this problem. EAPs appear to be a potential strong partner in efforts to prevent workplace stress, but face obstacles to intervening at the level of the work environment.