Effectiveness of a Mindfulness- and Skill-Based Health-Promoting Leadership Intervention on Supervisor and Employee Levels: A Quasi-Experimental Multisite Field Study

Acknowledging increasing demands for workforce health, new theoretical concepts of health-oriented leadership (HoL) have been introduced, emphasizing the supervisor's direct and explicit engagement in workplace health by focusing on their self- and staff-care. However, empirical evidence of the effectiveness of HoL interventions for supervisors and their staff is still scarce. We developed a mindfulness- and skill-based HoL intervention and investigated its effectiveness in a quasi-experimental multisite field study including supervisor and employee ratings from 12 German companies. A total of n = 117 supervisors and their employees (n = 744) completed assessments on mental distress and perceived HoL before and after the intervention as well as during the 3-month follow-up period. The intervention group was compared to a passive control cohort based on propensity score matching. Hierarchical linear models showed that the supervisors who had participated in the HoL intervention experienced a significantly larger decrease in mental distress and an increase in health-oriented self-care as well as staff-care than did their matched controls (g = 0.18-0.59). These results were confirmed by intent-to-treat analyses. The effect on supervisors' mental distress was mediated by an increase of their health-oriented self-care and moderated by the frequency of their mindfulness practice. No significant effects appeared between groups regarding outcomes at the employee level. Overall, these findings indicate how HoL can be effectively trained to increase supervisors' self- and staff-care and reduce their mental distress. Future research should explore additional moderator variables, linkages to established work stress models, and improvements of these interventions to increase their effectiveness for employees.

Automated summary

A mindfulness- and skill-based HoL intervention was developed and found to significantly reduce supervisor mental distress, increase their health-oriented self-care and staff-care. The results highlight how supervisors can increase self- and staff-care through training, reducing mental distress.