Jacquelyn Brady
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Current Research Activities
My research program broadly focuses on the ways in which organizations both affect and can support employee well-being. I am currently working on two projects, one centers around a worksite intervention designed to promote employee health and well-being, while the other is a multi-method and multi-stage set of studies geared towards understanding the psychological, interpersonal, and work experiences of pregnant employees and their partners as they transition to parenthood or experience loss. The goal of this work is to identify the ways in which organizations can better support employees as navigate these important life events.
Research Connections to Current Events
As reported by the APA in their annual Stress in America reports, work has remained a leading source of stress over the past couple of decades for people in the United States. This is problematic in that stress leads to chronic health conditions and can deteriorate well-being by affecting not only individuals, but their social relationships as well. Further, COVID has exasperated the many ways in which the general public experiences work stress. Yet work will remain a component to most people's lives, and for a large portion of their life. Thus, my broad research area that focuses on employee health and well-being aims to reduce this harmful effects. My perinatal research is also timely. Specifically, while other countries are leading the way with policies to support employees paid leave or acknowledges perinatal loss as a period of bereavement, and thus provide leave opportunities (for example, New Zealand), the United States unfortunately has very little protections for people as they transition to parenthood or experience perinatal loss. Thus, my research aims to support policy and worksites to better support people as they deal with these very significant life events.
Personal Connections to Research
My inspiration can be traced back to my undergraduate research experiences focused on social relationships and health and well-being. Following the birth of my own child, I became aware of the critical role workplaces play in these important outcomes, and realized the potential impact that research in this area could make on real people's lives.
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Keywords
Employee health and well-being, social relationships and health, occupational health psychology, organizational psychology
