Chestnut Global Partners to Begin Beta Test to Develop New Critical Incident Response Tool
Bloomington, IL (PRWEB) July 18, 2016 -- Chestnut Global Partners (CGP), a provider of culturally-aware employee assistance and wellness programs to companies worldwide, today announced that it will be conducting a beta test of its new Critical Incident Tool (CIR), an instrument to measure the effectiveness of CIR, a worksite intervention frequently deployed by Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers in helping individual employees and organizations cope and recover from various catastrophes or disruptive events such as serious accidents, employee deaths, natural disasters, and other forms of trauma. The CIR tool was adapted from CGP’s Workplace Outcome Suite (WOS), an industry-wide standard in tracking the effectiveness of EAP on employee readiness, performance and productivity. The study is designed to test the instrument’s internal consistency and provide psychometric validation before putting the tool into production; participants are being actively recruited from a cross section of industries.
The ultimate goal is to bring to market a scientifically validated tool that establishes empirical benchmarks for critical incident response, enables providers to better understand the nuances of what type of service is needed for a given type of crisis event (robbery, death in the workplace, layoff, natural disaster) and establishes the CIR as the standard in assessing effectiveness and promoting resilience. The beta test will be conducted in association with Patricia Herlihy Ph.D., RN, owner of Rocky Mountain Research (RMR), a consulting practice that focuses on EAP, Work-Life and Wellness Benefit Delivery Models; RMR will be responsible for recruiting study participants, administering the surveys and collecting the data.
“While crisis intervention and CIR has evolved into a specialty mental health practice, the field has been lacking a standard instrument to gauge response outcomes,” said Dr. Dave Sharar, a Research Scientist with CGP’s Commercial Science Division. “The CIR finally gives providers of employee assistance programs a means of objectively measuring the impact their programs and interventions have in coping with and rebounding from a critical incident.”
The CIR was adapted from CGP’s WOS, a psychometrically tested, validated, workplace-focused measurement tool that is easy to administer as well as being a free tool that currently over 600 organizations are using. The WOS brings EAP in line with the data-driven approaches that are changing the way organizations conduct all phases of their business—from product design to customer service, to marketing and talent acquisition. This approach yields quantifiable results, making the business case for if or when investing in EAP and Health/Wellness coaching makes sense.
”There has been a standing debate in the Crisis Intervention and CIR field about which type of intervention has the most beneficial workplace impact,” said Dr. Herlihy. “It is wonderful news that CGP is stepping forward and developing an empirically sound measurement tool to guide the field in how best to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace intervention. Our plan is for this tool to better inform both practitioners and employers on the kinds of interventions that produce the greatest workplace impact.”
About Chestnut Global Partners
Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) is a behavioral health organization based in Bloomington, IL that offers a full range of culturally aware employee assistance and related workplace services. CGP combines EAP with wellness, disability, high risk maternity, employee safety and compliance management programs, designed to promote employee well-being, improve performance and reduce absenteeism.
Chestnut Global Partners serves companies in over 140 countries, including Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia. Chestnut Global Partners’ Division of Commercial Science develops and deploys scientific assessment technologies, outcome measures, and analytical methodologies so that EAPs, wellness companies, disease management entities and purchasers the world over can determine the effects and/or worth of their programs. For more, visit http://www.chestnutglobalpartners.org.
For editorial information, contact:
Charles Epstein
BackBone, Inc.
che(at)backboneinc(dot)com
Charles Epstein, BackBone, http://www.backboneinc.com, (561) 470-0965, [email protected]
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