Microsoft word - abstract isat pohps dublin 2012 dias, taeymans, handaja & vansteenwegen.docx

Title: The effect of immediate feedback: Evaluation of an occupational health web-
based intervention tool (ISAT – Interactive Self-Assessment Tool)
Liliana Dias, PHD Student KULEUVEN
Sofie Taeymans & Yasmin Handaja, ISW Limits
Debora Vansteenwegen, PhD KULeuven and ISW Limits
Theoretical background:

Given the increasing interest in positive occupational health interventions in the
private sector, ISW Limits recently developed and commercialized an innovative
web-based tool, denominated ISAT (Interactive Self-Assessment Tool), which
provides insight into employee’s wellbeing, their perceived stress and motivation. It
provides advice about coping with mental health problems and stimulates pro-active
behavior.
This preliminary study aims to evaluate the tool by experimental manipulation of a
key feature of the online tool, the immediate feedback delivered directly to the
respondent, derived from scores on ISAT self- assessment questionnaires.
The study not only focused on the impact on general satisfaction and user-
friendliness of the tool but also on the intention of the participants to actively solve
their problems and personal factors such as self-efficacy, proactive attitude and
empowerment.
Method:

A total of 200 employed subjects were recruited from a social media website and 135
have fully completed the first measurement of ISAT. The subjects were randomly
divided into an experimental condition (N=66), which received immediate feedback
after answering the self-assessment questionnaires included on the ISAT, and a
control condition (N=67), which only received delayed feedback before the second
moment of measurement.
Overall satisfaction and the intention to actively solve problems were measured using
previous satisfaction survey questions of the ISAT. Self-efficacy was measured using
the Dutch adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE Scale; Schwarzer &
Jerusalem, 1995). Proactive attitude was measured by the Proactive Attitude Scale
(PA scale; Schmitz & Schwartzer, 1999), and Empowerment by the Worker
Empowerment Scale (WES; Lesli, Holzhalb & Holland, 1998).
Results:

The results show that employees who received immediate feedback were more
satisfied with the tool, finding it more useful (t(131)=1.85, p<.05), and were more
willing to use ISAT in the future in comparison with the control group (t(131) = 2.21,
p<.05). By receiving immediate feedback employees were partially more influenced
to deal with future problems in a more active way, since in three of the items
measuring the intention to actively solve problems a significant difference between
the experimental condition participants and the control group was found (t(131)=
1.98, p<.05; t(131)=1.82, p<.05; t(131)=1.75, p<.05. When all items measuring
intention to actively solve problems were aggregated into a total score, no significant
effect was found. No significant differences between the experimental group and the
control group were found in self-efficacy and empowerment, and proactive attitude
measurements.
Discussion:

In conclusion, immediate feedback provided directly to the respondent has a
significant impact on satisfaction with the ISAT tool, particularly in terms of
perception of its usefulness and the intention to use it in the future.
This preliminary study raises some questions considering the ability of obtaining
immediate impact, via personalized normative feedback, on positive attitudes and
behaviors at the workplace. Future research should clarify the need for personal
development measures overtime that could evaluate the effective internalization of
new positive attitudes and behaviors by the utilization of web-based positive
occupational health interventions.
 

Source: http://www.iswlimits.be/isat/website/Abstract_ISAT_POHPS_Dublin_2012.pdf