Evaluation of a Positive Psychological Intervention to Reduce Work Stress among Rural Community Health Workers in India: Results from a Randomized Pilot Study

Ameya P. Bondre (), Spriha Singh, Abhishek Singh, Aashish Ranjan, Azaz Khan, Lochan Sharma, Dinesh Bari, G Sai Teja, Laxmi Verma, Mehak Jolly, Payal Pandit, Radhika Sharma, Ritu Dangi, Romi Ahuja, Sneha Rani Nayak, Surbhi Agrawal, Jyotsna Agrawal, Seema Mehrotra, Rahul Shidhaye, Anant Bhan, John A. Naslund, Steve D. Hollon and Deepak Tugnawat
Additional contact information
Ameya P. Bondre: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Spriha Singh: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Abhishek Singh: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Aashish Ranjan: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Azaz Khan: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Lochan Sharma: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Dinesh Bari: Sangath Bhopal Hub
G Sai Teja: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Laxmi Verma: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Mehak Jolly: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Payal Pandit: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Radhika Sharma: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Ritu Dangi: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Romi Ahuja: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Sneha Rani Nayak: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Surbhi Agrawal: Sangath Bhopal Hub
Jyotsna Agrawal: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
Seema Mehrotra: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
Rahul Shidhaye: Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences
Anant Bhan: Sangath Bhopal Hub
John A. Naslund: Harvard Medical School
Steve D. Hollon: Vanderbilt University
Deepak Tugnawat: Sangath Bhopal Hub

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2025, vol. 26, issue 3, No 5, 48 pages

Abstract: Abstract Efforts to reduce work stress among frontline health workers in India, namely the rural Accredited Social Health Activists or ‘ASHAs’ (resident women, lay health workers) have predominantly emphasized on ‘extrinsic’ variables (e.g., financial incentives, or enhanced supervision), with little consideration of ‘intrinsic’ factors like the wellbeing of ASHAs themselves or building their abilities in managing work stress. ‘Character-strengths’ based positive psychological interventions have shown improvements in work wellbeing and engagement, but these findings have been largely observed in the Global North, with no experimental studies in India. This study is a pilot randomized controlled trial where rural ASHAs were allocated to receive regular supervision by their supervisors appointed by the health system (control arm), or a character-strengths based coaching intervention in addition to regular supervision (intervention arm). The intervention included a residential workshop and follow-on weekly individual telephonic coaching support. We aimed to examine the preliminary effectiveness of the intervention on happiness of ASHAs using the Authentic Happiness Inventory (primary outcome). At 3-month follow-up, ASHAs in the intervention arm showed higher total happiness scores (n = 30, Mean = 83.6; SD = 13.32) than ASHAs in the control arm (n = 31, Mean = 76.32; SD = 13.16), with a significant between-arm difference (Cohen’s d: 0.55). Secondary outcomes (e.g., burnout, motivation) showed non-significant between-arm differences at follow-up. We conducted telephone-interviews of ASHAs to gather their experiences of the intervention and used thematic analysis to assess its feasibility and acceptability. This study critically contributes to inform the ways by which rural frontline workers can use character-strengths to improve work wellbeing in low-resource settings.

Keywords: Character strengths; Work stress; Burnout; Happiness; Community health workers; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-024-00852-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00852-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-024-00852-6

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().