Research Assistant II Non-Lab

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Job Summary:

The Center for Work, Health, and Well-being (the Center), in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, conducts research and disseminates research findings related to workplace practices, policies, and programs that protect and promote worker safety, health, and well-being. The Center is a CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) Total Worker Health® Center of Excellence. This Research Assistant (RA) reports directly to the Center Associate Director, Dr.

Susan Peters, who is also the Co-Principal Investigator of the Residential Staff Health and Advancement Program for Excellence in Care (Re‑S HAPE) project. The Re‑S HAPE project is a Center affiliated study.

This position will provide essential support and contributions to the Re‑S HAPE project, an intervention study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) that aims to improve the well‑being and retention of workers in residential addiction treatment facilities by adapting and implementing an evidence‑based participatory organizational intervention. The central premise of this study is that addressing stressful working conditions within residential addiction treatment centers will improve workforce retention and patient care, with effects mediated by improved worker well‑being, thereby enhancing the availability, quality, and continuity of care for patients.

The research team will implement an evidence‑based, participatory organizational intervention that provides training, an intervention toolkit, and technical assistance to implement a continual improvement process in which a worker‑manager committee identifies stressful working conditions and then develops and implements action plans to address high‑priority concerns. The project is a partnership of multiple academic institutions – Boston College, Harvard University, Washington University in St.

Louis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – and the Workforce Development Unit of the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. This Research Assistant position is funded through the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health, and Well‑being Emerging Issues program.

From September 2026 through August 2027, the study team will be piloting the intervention and associated data collection procedures at three residential addiction treatment facilities in eastern and central Massachusetts. The RA’s primary role will be to assist the Boston College‑based project manager with intervention delivery and data collection. The RA will assist with finalizing recruitment materials and data collection materials (process…