U.S.-Sweden Cooperative Research: Characteristics of the Work Environment Affecting Occupational Stress

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This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Gary Evans, University of California, Irvine and Professor Gunn Johansson, Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, Sweden. The objective of the project is to determine characteristics of the work environment that affect occupational stress and the etiology of cardiovascular disease. The specific research proposed will evaluate an experiment in environmental and job re-design being conducted by the Stockholm Public Transit District. The intervention aims to reduce traffic congestion for bus drivers and improve passenger service. A before/after quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group will evaluate the experimental intervention. Multi-methodological assessments of occupational stress will include psychophysiological indices, self-reports and trained observations of drivers while on the job. Detailed assessments of the physical and psychosocial bus driving environment will be carried out. This collaboration brings together a Swedish work psychologist experienced in psychophysiological measurements of the impacts of psychosocial work characteristics, with the US investigator, who is an environmental psychologist with expertise in stress research and quantitative methods.