A rational-emotive group intervention for preventing and coping with stress among safety officers

A stress management and prevention workshop for nonclinical industrial workers using rational-emotive principles with 18 months followup is reported. Twenty-two senior safety officers participated in an intervention program of five weekly meetings aimed at improving cognitive skills and assertiveness mainly by decreasing irrational thought processes. We hypothesized an increase in assertiveness, and a decrease in irrational beliefs, and emotional and cognitive stress symptoms (manifested in somatic complaints and cognitive weariness). Assertiveness improved and somatic complaints and irrationality decreased in the short term. Eighteen months later, cognitive weariness was also reduced. The other improvements were still evident, but not to the same extent as short-term effects. Although the workshop improved rationality, further practice would be needed in the behavioral aspect of stress prevention to achieve long-term improvements in assertiveness.Talma Kushnir, Ph.D., is a social and medical psychologist at the Occupational Health and Rehabilitation Institute, Raanana, Israel, and teaches psychology and health promotion at the Tel-Aviv University Medical School.Ruth Malkinson, Ph.D., fellow and RET trainer and supervisor of the Institute for RET, and teaches at the School of Social Work and Medical School at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Both authors contributed equally to this studyThis study was supported by the Committee for Preventive Action and Research in Occupational Health, The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Jerusalem, Israel.The authors thank Estie Weisberg for her administrative assistance in organizing the workshops.