The need for effective interventions to promote staff health in schools is undisputed in light of studies on the health situation of teachers. To date, however, workplace health promotion in schools has focused strongly on the individual, holistic health promotion at the organizational level is rare and the existing projects are rarely evaluated. In particular, there is a lack of prospective studies that record, analyze and explain the development processes of comprehensive, complex interventions on a longitudinal basis (Dadaczynski et al., 2015). The presented intervention study addresses this research gap by evaluating a participative organizational-level (OL) occupational health intervention (OHI) designed to improve working conditions and the health of teachers.

 The analyzed intervention is an offer for systemic workplace health promotion in which customized and targeted measures are derived and implemented in a participatory manner based on the results of a staff survey. The survey tool provides individuals with feedback on their personal values immediately after completing the survey. On the other hand, a report is generated for the individual schools/school units, including the Job-Stress-Index of the school (balance of demands and resources) and the positioning of organizational demands and resources in relation to the benchmarks of other schools. The need for action is indicated by a traffic light system (green, yellow, red). These organizational results are discussed in workshops with the whole school team aiming to interpret the results of the survey and to identify fields of action for health-promoting measures. The intervention follows a configurable intervention approach in which the measures are adapted to the needs of the individual schools. The naturally occurring variation in the implementation makes the evaluation challenging (Bauer & Jenny, 2014).

 The analytical framework of the study is based on Job Demands-Resources Theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014), which conceptualizes the background of the intervention that aims to reduce workplace demands and foster workplace resources in order to improve workplace health of teachers. On the other hand, the Framework for Evaluating Organizational-level Interventions (Nielsen & Randall, 2013) with the three basic elements (1) context, (2) process and (3) mental models of the actors involved (of the intervention and their work situation) is guiding structured description of the individual schools.   

 The paper presentation will focus on the context of the intervention as previous research shows that the effects of an OHI depends on the context of the individual school. The effectiveness of organizational occupational health interventions is influenced by the preintervention health status and prior experience of the organization (Semmer, 2006). Schelvis et al. (2016) showed that lack of trust between leadership and staff, learned helplessness and high teacher independence impede the desired effects of an intervention. Facilitating contextual factors were competent leaders (Abildgaard et al., 2019), organizational resources such as collaboration and low initial stress, and the integration of the intervention into the existing strategy (Kliche et al., 2010).

 The presented paper aims to describe the context of the intervention in relation to the change in the Job-Stress-Index. We structure the description of the schools along the following questions: Who are the participants in the intervention? What is the reason for the participation in the intervention? What capacity does the organization have to conduct the intervention? What are the current challenges of the school? How is the intervention embedded in the school program and the school strategy? Did the intervention show the expected outcomes? Which hindering and facilitating factors in the context influenced intervention outcomes?

The analyzed sample comprises a special education school (N= 123 of 145) with four departments (school, boarding school, administrative and leading personal and supporting staff) and a high school (N= 124 of 133) with ten teams (7 subjects, 1 boarding school, 2 support). The study applies a mixed-methods design by integrating several perspectives (school management, staff), qualitative approaches (document analysis, interviews with school leading teams and staff, observation of the workshops), a longitudinal online survey (baseline, + 12 months) and an electronic logbook documenting information derived from e-mails or phone calls with the schools. The paper presentation includes analysis of the relevant organizational documents (e.g. school program, school strategy, philosophy), the reports of the staff survey and the semi-structured interviews with the school leading team at the beginning of the intervention. The staff surveys were conducted in January 2023 and 2024 with the standardized survey instrument “Friendly Work Space Job-Stress-Analysis” (FWS JSA; JSA (fws-jobstressanalysis.ch)). The FWS JSA is based on scientifically validated scales and thus enables a psychometrically supported assessment that can also be used reliably and validly in research. Data from interviews were transcribed verbatim and embedded into MAXQDA (a software package for qualitative data analysis), together with the logbooks, relevant organizational documents and the reports on the results of the staff survey at the start of the intervention and one year later. Data are analyzed following the rules of qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2015).

• Insight into Contextual Dynamics: The presentation aims to provide a deep understanding of the contextual factors influencing the effectiveness of organizational-level health interventions in schools. • Analysis of Hindering Factors: The presentation will delve into hindering factors within the contextual landscape. Understanding these factors is crucial for overcoming barriers to successful interventions. • Examination of Facilitating Factors: The study aims to identify facilitating factors like competent leadership, organizational resources, and strategic integration, which can positively influence intervention outcomes. Recognizing these factors can guide the development of supportive environments for health interventions. • Contributions to Intervention Science: The research intends to contribute to the field by addressing the scarcity of prospective studies on comprehensive, complex interventions in schools. This includes a focus on longitudinal processes, adding depth to the understanding of how interventions unfold over time. • Practical Implications for Educational Settings: The presentation aspires to provide practical implications for educators, administrators, and policymakers involved in school health promotion by offering evidence-based insights into designing effective, context-specific interventions.

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