Coping skills training to reduce psychosocial risk factors for medical disorders: A field trial evaluating effectiveness in multiple worksites

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether a commercial coping skills training program shown to reduce psychosocial risk factors in randomized clinical trials of patients with coronary heart disease is also effective in achieving similar improvements among stressed workers in a real world corporate setting. Methods: Conduct an observational trial to evaluate the impact of the Williams LifeSkillsR Workshop on depression, social support, anxiety, and hostility in a sample of 110 employees working at multiple U.S. sites of a client of Williams LifeSkills, Inc. Results: All psychosocial risk factors showed highly significant improvements from pre- to post-training. Except for social support, these improvements were maintained at six months follow-up. Conclusions: These findings provide support for the effectiveness of the Williams LifeSkillsR Workshop by suggesting that its efficacy, as demonstrated in randomized clinical trials, generalizes to real world settings like the multiple U.S. work sites of a corporate client.