The Crain Lab

The Crain Lab

We conduct research in the areas of industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology and occupational health psychology (OHP). Our group examines the interplay among the 3 primary domains of life: work, nonwork, and sleep. As a team of scientist-practitioners, we are committed to applying rigorous research in real-world organizations, with the primary goal of protecting the health and safety of workers and their families.

Shalyn, Kiplin, Tori, Jacq, and Becca

WHAT ARE OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS? We have a number of diverse ongoing projects in our lab that all focus on one aspect or another of the work-nonwork-sleep nexus. Some examples of the underlying research questions that guide our work are listed below.

1. How does workplace stress affect employees’ sleep and health?

2. How can organizations better support employees’ nonwork life, sleep, and health?

3. How do employees and supervisors communicate about nonwork life?

4. How do sleep and fatigue impair safety in the workplace?

WHO DO WE DO RESEARCH WITH? We collaborate with a wide range of organizations to conduct our research and implement solutions, as we believe in the importance of triangulating research findings across industries and occupational levels. We have a particular interest in working with employees involved in shiftwork, safety-sensitive operations, and precarious employment settings. Our ongoing studies are taking place within healthcare, military, information technology, construction, mining, and the gig economy.

WHAT METHODS DO WE USE? We use a variety of research methods and designs. Most of our studies are conducted in organizational field settings with self-report surveys and objective measures of actigraphic sleep. An actigraph is a wristwatch-like device that measures movement as a proxy for sleep. We are also involved in a number of intervention studies that utilize rigorous experimental designs in the field to evaluate the usefulness of training employees and supervisors on work-life and sleep issues.

​WHY ARE WE INTERESTED IN THIS WORK? Workers who are stressed and sleepy are more likely to underperform, be injured on the job, leave their organizations, have negative interactions at home with loved ones, and face serious long-term health consequences. Our goal is to help organizations and supervisors create healthy workplaces that can prevent these negative outcomes for employees and their families.