Using the PRIMA-EF framework, best-practice criteria for the evaluation of interventions were formulated and outlined. This best practice inventory has been developed on the basis of these criteria:
(a) Sector specificity: assessing the specificity of the intervention to an occupational sector; (b) Usability with different enterprise sizes: assessing the usability of the intervention across varying sizes of enterprises; (c) Gender: assessing whether the intervention addresses gender issues and is applicable to both genders; (d) Theory: assessing whether the intervention is derived from theory and is evidenced-based; (e) Adaptability/Tailoring: assessing the adaptability of the intervention to a variety of occupational sectors & sizes of enterprises; (f) Corporate social responsibility: assessing if the intervention promotes responsible business practices, and if so, in what ways; (e) Social dialogue: assessing iftheintervention promotes employee participation & dialogue among social partners, & if so, how; (g) Quality control: this was assessed by the satisfaction of several key criteria: namely, (i) the intervention has been published in a reputable journal; (ii) the information provider is a ‘credible source’; (iii) the identity of the ‘owner(s)’of the site and/or authors of the paper is obvious; (iv) the information is original, and if not, the source is clearly stated; (v) if it is a commercial site/paper, whether the information is objective and not biased towards a . commercial purpose; (h) Benefits: whether benefits have been identified, including assessing the cost benefit of the intervention. (i) Evaluation: whether the intervention has been evaluated, including the examination of process issues, the outcomes of the intervention, and the sustainability and longevity of demonstrated results;
Using these best practice criteria, a template for the inventory was designed and developed which was then distributed to a considerable number of organisations and researchers/experts who have implemented interventions in the EU. The targeted individuals and organisations were asked to evaluate the inventory and to provide feedback. Received commentary and feedback was considered, and integrated into the further development of the final inventory template.
A review of the literature in the prevention and management of work-related stress, workplace violence and bullying across various intervention levels (namely, primary, secondary and tertiary) from across the EU was conducted. It should be noted that this literature review was limited to articles published in English, and subsequently only interventions published in English and implemented in Europe were included in this study. Interventions meeting best practice criteria were short-listed and used to complete the inventory. When short-listing interventions to be discussed during the interview phase of this study, emphasis was placed on the requirement that interventions were both: (a) published in a reputable journal and (b) evaluated.