Dipartimento di Area Medica, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italia.
Istituto di Igiene ed Epidemiologia Clinica, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Jun 5;24(1):1509. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18935-7.
Increasing work-related stress in academia can have an impact on physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to analyse the coping strategies of staff employed at the University of Udine and to verify whether sociodemographic data, professional position, and the presence of anxiety or depression symptoms are related to the use of different coping strategies.
We conducted a cross-sectional study between June and December 2020 using the Brief COPE questionnaire. We correlated coping strategies with professional position, sociodemographic data, and the presence of anxiety or depressive symptoms measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the General Anxiety Disorder-7.
A total of 366 people participated in the study, including 109 junior academics, 146 senior academics, and 111 administrative staff (response rate 23.6%). The three most frequently used coping strategies in terms of approach coping style were planning (6.77 ± 1.41), active coping (6.58 ± 1.45) and acceptance (6.23 ± 1.44). Women were more likely than men to report using approach and avoidant coping strategies (p < 0.001). Positive reframing and religion were most commonly used by administrative staff (p < 0.05), in contrast to junior academics, who were more likely to use substances and self-blame (p < 0.05). Anxiety was found to correlate with self-blame (OR 1.94) as a coping strategy, while depression was associated with venting (OR 2.83), self-blame (OR 3.27), and humor (OR 3.02).
Identifying profiles of coping strategies can help higher education institutions to implement support strategies for the academic community, ultimately promoting healthier lives and more effective teaching and research. Our study has shown that women and junior academics among staff at the Udine University would benefit from a tailored health promotion intervention that encourages the use of approach coping styles to reduce their risk of developing anxiety and depressive symptoms.
学术界工作相关压力的增加会对身心健康产生影响。本研究旨在分析乌迪内大学员工的应对策略，并验证人口统计学数据、职业地位以及焦虑或抑郁症状的存在是否与不同应对策略的使用有关。
我们于 2020 年 6 月至 12 月期间使用简短应对策略问卷进行了横断面研究。我们将应对策略与职业地位、人口统计学数据以及使用患者健康问卷-9 和广泛性焦虑障碍-7 测量的焦虑或抑郁症状相关联。
共有 366 人参与了这项研究，包括 109 名初级学者、146 名高级学者和 111 名行政人员（应答率为 23.6%）。在积极应对方式中，使用频率最高的三种应对策略分别是计划（6.77±1.41）、积极应对（6.58±1.45）和接受（6.23±1.44）。女性比男性更有可能报告使用积极应对和回避应对策略（p<0.001）。行政人员更常使用积极重新构建和宗教（p<0.05），而初级学者更常使用物质和自责（p<0.05）。发现焦虑与自责（OR 1.94）作为应对策略相关，而抑郁与倾诉（OR 2.83）、自责（OR 3.27）和幽默（OR 3.02）相关。
确定应对策略的特征可以帮助高等教育机构为学术界实施支持策略，最终促进更健康的生活和更有效的教学和研究。我们的研究表明，女性和初级学者作为乌迪内大学的员工，将受益于量身定制的健康促进干预措施，鼓励他们使用积极的应对方式，降低出现焦虑和抑郁症状的风险。
