An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health

Jeremy W Bray¹, Erin L Kelly², Leslie B Hammer³, David M Almeida⁴, James W Dearing⁵, Rosalind B King⁶, Orfeu M Buxton⁷

Affiliations

¹ RTI International Senior Fellow in health economics and the PI of the Data and Methodological Coordinating Center for the NIH/CDC Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN).
² Associate professor of sociology and director of the Life Course Center at the University of Minnesota. She is co-PI, with Phyllis Moen, of the Minnesota center of the WFHN.
³ Professor of psychology and director of the Portland State University Occupational Health Psychology Program, associate director of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, and co-director of the Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety, and Health. She is co-PI, with Ellen Ernst Kossek, of the Portland State University center of the WFHN.
⁴ Professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is co-PI, with Susan McHale, of the Penn State center of the WFHN.
⁵ Senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente where he co-directs the Center for Health Education Dissemination and Implementation Research and the Cancer Communication Research Center. He chairs the WFHN Translational Research Committee.
⁶ Health scientist administrator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and an extramural staff scientist for the WFHN.
⁷ Assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine, an associate neuroscientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and director of the WFHN biomarker and actigraphy data coordinating center at BWH.

PMID: 24618878
PMCID: PMC3947908
DOI: 10.3768/rtipress.2013.mr.0024.1303

An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health

Jeremy W Bray et al. Methods Rep RTI Press. 2013 Mar.

. 2013 Mar:1-38.

doi: 10.3768/rtipress.2013.mr.0024.1303.

Authors

Jeremy W Bray¹, Erin L Kelly², Leslie B Hammer³, David M Almeida⁴, James W Dearing⁵, Rosalind B King⁶, Orfeu M Buxton⁷

Affiliations

¹ RTI International Senior Fellow in health economics and the PI of the Data and Methodological Coordinating Center for the NIH/CDC Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN).
² Associate professor of sociology and director of the Life Course Center at the University of Minnesota. She is co-PI, with Phyllis Moen, of the Minnesota center of the WFHN.
³ Professor of psychology and director of the Portland State University Occupational Health Psychology Program, associate director of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, and co-director of the Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety, and Health. She is co-PI, with Ellen Ernst Kossek, of the Portland State University center of the WFHN.
⁴ Professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is co-PI, with Susan McHale, of the Penn State center of the WFHN.
⁵ Senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente where he co-directs the Center for Health Education Dissemination and Implementation Research and the Cancer Communication Research Center. He chairs the WFHN Translational Research Committee.
⁶ Health scientist administrator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and an extramural staff scientist for the WFHN.
⁷ Assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine, an associate neuroscientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and director of the WFHN biomarker and actigraphy data coordinating center at BWH.

PMID: 24618878
PMCID: PMC3947908
DOI: 10.3768/rtipress.2013.mr.0024.1303

Abstract

Recognizing a need for rigorous, experimental research to support the efforts of workplaces and policymakers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees and their families, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formed the Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN). The WFHN is implementing an innovative multisite study with a rigorous experimental design (adaptive randomization, control groups), comprehensive multilevel measures, a novel and theoretically based intervention targeting the psychosocial work environment, and translational activities. This paper describes challenges and benefits of designing a multilevel and transdisciplinary research network that includes an effectiveness study to assess intervention effects on employees, families, and managers; a daily diary study to examine effects on family functioning and daily stress; a process study to understand intervention implementation; and translational research to understand and inform diffusion of innovation. Challenges were both conceptual and logistical, spanning all aspects of study design and implementation. In dealing with these challenges, however, the WFHN developed innovative, transdisciplinary, multi-method approaches to conducting workplace research that will benefit both the research and business communities.

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Figures

**Figure 1**
The multiple levels and methods of analysis in the Work, Family, and Health Study (WFHS)

**Figure 2. Company 1 baseline work site data collection**
Note: m = number of groups; n = number of individuals; CAPI = computer-assisted personal interview.

**Figure 3. Company 1 baseline family data collection**
Note: n = number of individuals; CAPI = computer-assisted personal interview.

**Figure 4. Company 2 baseline work site data collection**
Note: m = number of groups; n = number of individuals; CAPI = computer-assisted personal interview.

**Figure 5. Company 2 baseline family data collection**
Note: n = number of individuals; CAPI = computer-assisted personal interview.

**Figure 6**
Intervention effectiveness study data collection flow per work site

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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1. Almeida DM, McDonald D. The time Americans spend working for pay, caring for families, and contributing to communities. In: Heymann J, Beem C, editors. Unfinished work: Balancing equality and democracy in an era of working families. New York, NY: The New Press; 2005. pp. 180–203.
1. Almeida DM, McGonagle K, King H. Assessing daily stress processes in social surveys by combining stressor exposure and salivary cortisol. Biodemography and Social Biology. 2009;55(2):219–237. doi: 10.1080/19485560903382338. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health

Affiliations

An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health

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Abstract

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References

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