Abstract
When not managed effectively, high levels of workplace stress can lead to several negative personal and performance outcomes. Some professional groups work in highly stressful settings and are therefore particularly at risk of conditions such as anxiety, depression, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. However, some individuals are less affected by workplace stress and the associated negative outcomes. Such individuals have been described as “resilient.” A number of studies have found relationships between levels of individual resilience and specific negative outcomes such as burnout and compassion fatigue. However, because psychological resilience is a multi-dimensional construct it is necessary to more clearly delineate it from other related and overlapping constructs. The creation of a testable theoretical model of individual workforce resilience, which includes both stable traits (e.g., neuroticism) as well as more malleable intrapersonal factors (e.g., coping style), enables information to be derived that can eventually inform interventions aimed at enhancing individual resilience in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new theoretical model of individual workforce resilience that includes several intrapersonal constructs known to be central in the appraisal of and response to stressors and that also overlap with the construct of psychological resilience. We propose a model in which psychological resilience is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between neuroticism, mindfulness, self-efficacy, coping, and psychological adjustment.
Highlights
Occupational stress is a universal phenomenon that is associated with several deleterious consequences such as negative physical and mental health outcomes (Kakiashvili et al, 2013) and a number of negative organizational outcomes such as impaired work performance and high turnover (Bridger et al, 2013)
A study by McGarry et al (2013) conducted in Australia with health professionals working in a pediatric hospital, found that high resilience was associated with lower prevalence of burnout, symptoms of anxiety and depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and low psychological resilience was associated with higher secondary traumatic stress
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE Interest in the concept of psychological resilience has burgeoned in the last decade with researchers across various discipline areas investigating the relationship between an individual’s level of psychological resilience and various outcomes ranging from reported levels of stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and general indicators of well-being (GarciaDia et al, 2013)
Summary
Occupational stress is a universal phenomenon that is associated with several deleterious consequences such as negative physical and mental health outcomes (Kakiashvili et al, 2013) and a number of negative organizational outcomes such as impaired work performance and high turnover (Bridger et al, 2013). Given the clear relationship between the experience of occupational stress and various negative individual and organizational outcomes, researchers have become increasingly interested in exploring factors that might serve to either exacerbate or mitigate the influence of stress on employees. One such construct that has gained considerable research interest is that of psychological resilience. A study by McGarry et al (2013) conducted in Australia with health professionals working in a pediatric hospital, found that high resilience was associated with lower prevalence of burnout, symptoms of anxiety and depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and low psychological resilience was associated with higher secondary traumatic stress. In this paper we propose that psychological resilience mediates the relationship between several key individual psychological variables and general psychological adjustment
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