TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krause, Stefan
A1  - Weber, Silvana
T1  - Lift me up by looking down: social comparison effects of narratives
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - Stories are a powerful means to change recipients’ views on themselves by being transported into the story world and by identifying with story characters. Previous studies showed that recipients temporarily change in line with a story and its characters (assimilation). Conversely, assimilation might be less likely when recipients are less identified with story protagonists or less transported into a story by comparing themselves with a story character. This may lead to changes, which are opposite to a story and its characters (contrast). In two experiments, we manipulated transportation and experience taking via two written reviews (Experiment 1; N = 164) and by varying the perspective of the story’s narrator (Experiment 2; N = 79) of a short story about a negligent student. Recipients’ self-ratings in comparison to others, motives, and problem-solving behavior served as dependent variables. However, neither the review nor the perspective manipulation affected transportation or experience taking while reading the story. Against our expectations, highly transported recipients (in Study 1) and recipients with high experience taking (in Study 2) showed more persistency working on an anagram-solving task, even when controlling for trait conscientiousness. Our findings are critically discussed in light of previous research.
KW  - self
KW  - self-concept
KW  - transportation
KW  - identification
KW  - experience taking
KW  - narratives
KW  - social comparison
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190624
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weber, Silvana
A1  - Lorenz, Christopher
A1  - Hemmings, Nicola
T1  - Improving stress and positive mental health at work via an app-based intervention: a large-scale multi-center randomized control trial
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - Mobile health interventions (i.e., “apps”) are used to address mental health and are an increasingly popular method available to both individuals and organizations to manage workplace stress. However, at present, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of mobile health interventions in counteracting or improving stress-related health problems, particularly in naturalistic, non-clinical settings. This project aimed at validating a mobile health intervention (which is theoretically grounded in the Job Demands-Resources Model) in preventing and managing stress at work. Within the mobile health intervention, employees make an evidence-based, personalized, psycho-educational journey to build further resources, and thus, reduce stress. A large-scale longitudinal randomized control trial, conducted with six European companies over 6 weeks using four measurement points, examined indicators of mental health via measures of stress, wellbeing, resilience, and sleep. The data were analyzed by means of hierarchical multilevel models for repeated measures, including both self-report measures and user behavior metrics from the app. The results (n = 532) suggest that using the mobile health intervention (vs. waitlist control group) significantly improved stress and wellbeing over time. Higher engagement in the intervention increased the beneficial effects. Additionally, use of the sleep tracking function led to an improvement in sleeping troubles. The intervention had no effects on measures of physical health or social community at work. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, focusing on benefits and challenges of using technological solutions for organizations to support individuals’ mental health in the workplace.
KW  - stress
KW  - work
KW  - RCT
KW  - mental health
KW  - digital health
KW  - mobile health intervention
KW  - smartphone app
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-194337
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 10
IS  - 2745
ER  -