The primary objective of this proposal is to test and evaluate the effectiveness of an action-research approach for the prevention of occupational stress-related alcohol, drug-abuse, and mental health disorders. Specifically, the intervention to be evaluated will use an existing """"""""employee participation in decison making"""""""" program as the mechanism for introducing a series of innovations intended to reduce organizational sources of stress, and enhance individual employees' coping abilities. The proposed research will be conducted in a Ford Motor Company automotive parts manufacturing plant in a rural area of southeastern Michigan. The action-research design will involve a plant-wide longitudinal survey of employee attitudes administered three times over 36 months as well as data from interviews, records and documents, and participant observation. The expected benefits from this study include: 1) an understanding of the effects of a formal, well-defined employee participation program on health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes; 2) greater refinement in theoretical developments of the differential effects of different forms of social support in the workplace on health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes; 3) the development of a model intervention for using employee problem-solving groups to address problems of workplace stress.
