Exploring organizational aspects that promote health-related preventive behavior: using the example of work-related SARS-CoV-2 infection control measures in Germany, August 2020 to November 2021.

During the communicable coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, organizational infection control measures (oICMs) were introduced in the workplace. The employees' positive attitudes and active participation are relevant for full effectiveness regarding disease prevention. Therefore, we explore changes in employees' attitudes toward oICM at work from August-October 2020 (T0) over January 2021 (T1) to October-November 2021 (T2). We further investigate the role an organization can play in supporting health-related preventive behavior. We considered repeated cross-sectional and longitudinal panel survey data from 5,554 employees of a global supplier of technology and services in Germany. A total of 16 items constitute the attitude scores toward oICM (5-point Likert scale). Via mixed-effect model, aspects associated with employees' attitudes toward oICM were explored. Via 'extreme-group' approach, we compared the 20% of participants with the largest changes into less favorable to the 20% with the largest changes into more favorable attitudes toward oICM over time. The overall positive attitudes toward work-related oICM were more favorable at T1 (mean ± SD: 4.2 ± 0.6, median (IQR): 4.3 (0.8), oICMs in the workplace were perceived appropriate even after COVID-19 vaccines were widely available although the perceived affective risks about SARS-CoV-2 decreased. Taken together, our findings highlight how organizations can support employees in adopting health-related preventive behavior. Among others, we found that feeling well-informed about possible work-related health risks was positively associated with long-term favorable attitudes toward work-related oICM. We expect that the results contribute to the development of interventions to prepare and adapt to future global public health concerns.

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Copyright © 2024 Soeder, Wagner, Neunhöffer, Martus, Papenfuss, Wittich, Schwille-Kiuntke, Rind and Rieger.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

JS-K’s sole permanent employment relationship is with the Regierungspräsidium Tübingen/public health department Hechingen, Zollernalbkreis. She declares no conflict of interest. FP has been involved as consultant, expert, and co-author and is employed at the Robert Bosch GmbH. FP has been primarily involved in developing the study idea and the design and content of the online employee survey. The participating company had no role in the analysis of data, the interpretation of results, or the decision to publish the results. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.