Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, 7535, Bellville, Republic of South Africa.
BMC Psychol. 2023 Feb 14;11(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01082-w.
Stress resistance resources, such as social support and resilience, have been found to be important in promoting psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most prior research studies have conceptualized stress resistance resource variables as having a mediating or moderating role. Cooper (2018) proposed a model of the relationship between stress and health which posits that coping resources are always present and not only invoked in the face of adversity. Thus, we hypothesize that coping resources are causally antecedent to stressors and influence well-being indirectly via the stressor. We focused specifically on school teachers due to them being at the frontlines of service provision during the pandemic. Teaching was already identified as a highly stressful profession prior to COVID-19 and disease containment measures placed additional strain on teachers who had to adapt to emergency remote teaching.
The current study tests this hypothesis by examining the indirect effects of resilience on indices of psychological health via role stress.
Participants (N = 355) were teachers who completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, the Role Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. An electronic version of the questionnaires was distributed to teachers via Facebook and to officials from the Department of Education, who assisted with distribution of the electronic link to the survey. Participants were mostly women (76.6%) and mean number of years in the teaching profession was 15.7.
Structural equation modelling results demonstrated significant direct effects of resilience on life satisfaction, anxiety, and depression, which indicates that resilience is beneficial for psychological health even in the absence of stress. Resilience also had a significant indirect effect on indices of psychological well-being via role ambiguity but not role conflict.
These findings have theoretical implications for the understanding of the role of resilience in promoting psychological health among educators. Practical implications include an empirical contribution to education policy and information that can inform interventions aimed to promote resilience among educators.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，抗压资源（如社会支持和适应力）已被证明对促进心理健康非常重要。然而，大多数先前的研究都将抗压资源变量概念化为具有中介或调节作用。库珀（2018 年）提出了一种压力与健康之间关系的模型，该模型假设应对资源始终存在，而不仅仅是在逆境中调用。因此，我们假设应对资源是压力源的因果先行因素，并通过压力源间接影响幸福感。我们特别关注学校教师，因为他们是大流行期间服务提供的第一线人员。在 COVID-19 之前，教学已被确定为一项高压力职业，而疾病防控措施给不得不适应紧急远程教学的教师带来了额外的压力。
本研究通过检验韧性通过角色压力对心理健康指数的间接影响来检验这一假设。
参与者（N=355）为教师，他们完成了康纳-戴维森韧性量表-10、角色压力量表、生活满意度量表、状态-特质焦虑量表和流行病学研究中心抑郁量表。问卷的电子版本通过 Facebook 分发给教师，并分发给教育部官员，他们协助分发调查的电子链接。参与者主要是女性（76.6%），从事教学工作的平均年限为 15.7 年。
结构方程模型结果表明，韧性对生活满意度、焦虑和抑郁有显著的直接影响，这表明即使没有压力，韧性也有益于心理健康。韧性通过角色模糊但不是角色冲突对心理幸福感指数也有显著的间接影响。
这些发现对理解韧性在促进教育工作者心理健康方面的作用具有理论意义。实际意义包括对教育政策的实证贡献和可以为旨在促进教育工作者韧性的干预措施提供信息。
