scholarly journals Occupational Stress, Coping Strategies, Health, and Well-Being Among University Academic Staff—An Integrative Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Panshuo Shen ◽  
Paul Slater

Occupational stress has been constantly rising among academics in universities globally, which affects their health and well-being. Although some studies reviewed occupational stress in academics, there has been less systematic evidence reviewed occupational stress of academic staff through the lens of the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TTSC). This integrative review aims to search, extract, appraise and synthesise recent evidence relating to occupational stress, coping strategies, health, and well-being of university academic staff. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) methodology provides a structure for searching and reporting the search outcomes. Primary studies relating to occupational stress, coping strategies, health, and well-being of academics in university published from 2010 onwards were selected from five databases, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, and Web of Science in June 2020. Keywords included “stress”, “coping strategy”, “health”, “well-being”, “academics” and “university” in various combinations. The boolean operators “AND” and “OR” were also used. 17 out of 682 articles were included in this review. Most studies reported academics experienced moderate to high level of stress, and the heavy workload was one of the main stressors. Both positive and negative coping methods were used by academics to cope with stress. Occupational stress can contribute to poor mental health and decreased well-being of academics. This review can help to understand the work phenomenon of university academics and improve their health and well-being, which in turn can contribute to satisfaction and productivity within the educational institutes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Panshuo Shen ◽  
Paul Slater

The level of stress among academics in higher education institutions has significantly increased over the past decade. Mental health and well-being of academics can be affected once they are exposed to stressful work conditions and use negative coping strategies. This study was set against the backdrop of the pandemic disease, COVID-19, which has challenged the daily work of academics and risen to the various new stressors. This study aims to investigate the current status of occupational stress, coping styles, mental health and emotional well-being of university academics during the COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Ireland, and examine the effect of stress and coping strategies on mental health and emotional well-being. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using a sample size of 87 academic staff working in a university in Northern Ireland. SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the collected data. The results showed academics experienced moderate stress levels, and distraction behaviours were the most common form of coping mechanism. Academics were in the moderate status of mental health and poor emotional well-being. Occupational stress has a significant effect on mental health and emotional well-being. Positive reframing and acceptance coping styles have an impact on emotional well-being. This study contributes to the understanding of occupational stress, coping strategies, mental health and emotional well-being of academics in higher education in Northern Ireland. The findings can help to develop reliable methods to inform policy on health and well-being for university academics, which in turn lead to increased productivity at work.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 469-482
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina Oliveira ◽  
Félix Neto ◽  
Filipa Teixeira ◽  
Ângela Maia

Purpose Ambulance personnel face a diversity of stressful events that could be potentially traumatic, putting their health and well-being at risk. The purpose of this paper is to explore, from this group perspective, sources of stress, coping strategies and support measures. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed 14 ambulance workers of Portuguese Red Cross local structures from the north of Portugal. Data were analyzed according to thematic analysis procedures. Findings The authors identified three themes: operational and organizational factors, control and predictability; anticipating scenarios, focusing on procedures and dealing with reactions; and from undervalued support to support as routine. Dealing with human lives, the unpredictability of calls and working under pressure are the main sources of stress, causing, in some of them, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Road accidents, situations involving children and cardiac arrest are the most distressing events. During events, they cope focusing on technical procedures, but after them they prefer to talk with colleagues and seek support from family and friends. All participants emphasize the inexistence of structured support measures. Practical implications It is important to develop support measures tailored to ambulance personnel’s needs, leading to enhancements of theirs work performance, health and well-being. Originality/value Contrarily to most of the studies that explore mostly PTSD and/or burnout, the authors explored, from the perspective of professionals, other dimensions such as sources of stress, coping strategies and support measures, adopting a qualitative approach, which has been rarely used.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026142942110697
Author(s):  
Fatih Kaya ◽  
Aysegul Islekeller-Bozca

COVID-19 began to spread all over the world in the Spring of 2020. All schools, including the institutions serving students with special needs, were closed to decrease the spread of the virus. The schools had to shift to online education, which was a new experience for most students. In addition to the negative effects of the pandemic itself, the new learning format required extra effort from students. Gifted and talented students as a special group with special educational and socio-emotional needs may have experienced the pandemic differently. In the present study, we aimed to explore gifted and talented students’ subjective well-being, feelings of hope, and stress coping strategies with a quantitative method. In addition, we used a qualitative method and asked a few open-ended questions to dig deeper into these students’ experiences during the pandemic. We found a statistically significant correlation among subjective well-being, hope, and stress coping strategies. Effective stress coping strategies are used more frequently than negative ones. We revealed that although there are some positive sides to the process, the students described some difficulties with social interaction, access and use of technology, motivation, and physical health. Based on the findings, we suggested some important implications and recommendations for parents, educators, and policymakers.


BJPsych Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Dunn ◽  
Deborah Kinnear ◽  
Andrew Jahoda ◽  
Alex McConnachie

Background Caring for a child with intellectual disabilities can be a very rewarding but demanding experience. Research in this area has primarily focused on mothers, with relatively little attention given to the mental health of fathers. Aims The purpose of this review was to summarise the evidence related to the mental health of fathers compared with mothers, and with fathers in the general population. Method A meta-analysis was undertaken of all studies published by 1 July 2018 in Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and EMBASE, using terms on intellectual disabilities, mental health and father carers. Papers were selected based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Of 5544 results, 20 studies met the inclusion criteria and 12 had appropriate data for meta-analysis. For comparisons of fathers with mothers, mothers were significantly more likely to have poor general mental health and well-being (standardised mean difference (SMD) −0.38, 95% CI −0.56 to −0.20), as well as higher levels of depression (SMD, −0.46; 95% CI −0.68 to −0.24), stress (SMD, −0.32; 95% CI −0.46 to −0.19) and anxiety (SMD, −0.30; 95% CI −0.50 to −0.10). Conclusions There is a significant difference between the mental health of father and mother carers, with fathers less likely to exhibit poor mental health. However, this is based on a small number of studies. More data is needed to determine whether the general mental health and anxiety of father carers of a child with intellectual disabilities differs from fathers in the general population.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shridhar. C Kulakarni ◽  
Srimathi N. L

The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between occupational stress, coping strategies and job satisfaction among nurses working in general hospital and psychiatric hospital. The sample consisted of 300 nurses (150 nurses from general hospital and 150 from psychiatric hospital) drawn from Hubli and Dharawad district hospitals, Chitradurga, Shimoga district hospitals of Karnataka. The primary objective of the study is to study the relationship between occupational stress, coping strategies and level of job satisfaction among nurses working in general hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. The participants were administered the occupational stress index developed by Prof. S. K. Srivastava and Prof. A. P. Singh, ways of coping questionnaire developed by Lazarus and Folkman (1989) and Job satisfaction questionnaire developed by C.N. Daftuar. The data were analyzed by using Pearson Product Moment Method of correlation to find out the relationship between these variables. The results of the study have shown that there is a significant positive relationship exists between the occupational stress, coping strategies and job satisfaction among nurses working in general and psychiatric hospitals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 634-640
Author(s):  
Reza Ghanei Gheshlagh ◽  
Hayedeh Rezaei ◽  
Naser Parizad

Background Occupational stress is one of the undesirable risk factors found in the midwifery profession. It can lead to job burnout, job loss and negatively affect the quality of patient care. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of occupational stress among Iranian midwives. Methods Through searching national and international databases, a total of 11 observational studies with full texts were extracted. Observational studies in Persian or English that reported the prevalence or frequency of job stress among Iranian midwives were included in the analysis. Irrelevant studies, those conducted on midwifery students and gray literature were excluded. The meta-analysis was conducted using the random-effects model. Results 11 articles reviewed occupational stress in 1196 midwives (an average of 108 midwives per study). Analysis of the articles showed that the pooled prevalence of occupational stress was 70.82% in Iranian midwives. Meta-regression analysis showed that the prevalence of occupational stress was not related to mean age, work experience, articles' publication year or sample size. Conclusions The prevalence of occupational stress is high among Iranian midwives and it can have harmful consequences for them and their patients. Therefore, the training of stress coping strategies seems to be appropriate for this group.


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