The Life of the Mind
Wellness Antecedents and Outcomes of Meaningful Work among Secondary School Teachers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elmari Fouche
The aim of this study was to investigate antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work among school teachers. Meaningful work have a profound effect on quality of work-life and wellness levels of teachers. Meaningful work underpins people’s motivation and affects their well-being and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it is a significant pathway to healthy and authentic organisations. However, a research gap exists regarding the effects of different antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work. A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample of 513 teachers. The Work-Life Questionnaire, Revised Job Diagnostic Survey, Coworker Relations Scale, Work and Meaning Inventory, Personal Resources Scale, Work Engagement Scale, Turnover Intention Scale and a measure of self-rated performance were administered. A calling orientation, job design and co-worker relations were associated with meaningful work. A low calling orientation and poor co-worker relationships predicted burnout. A calling orientation, a well-designed job, good co-worker relationships and meaningful work predicted work engagement. Job design was moderately associated with self-ratings of performance. The absence of a calling orientation predicted teachers’ intention to leave the organisation. Educational managers should consider implementing interventions to affect teachers’ calling orientation (through job crafting), perceptions of the nature of their jobs (by allowing autonomy) and co-worker relations (through teambuilding) to promote perceptions of meaningful work. Promoting perceptions of meaningful work might contribute to lower burnout, higher work engagement, better self-ratings of performance and retention of teachers.
Interactive Impact of Anxiety and Mental Skills Training on Sports Performance of National Level Indian Athletes
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dr. Pardeep Kumar
A total of thirty eight (38) athletes of International and National level were selected to measure the correlation between variables of Ottawa Mental Skills- Assessment Tools (version 3) with one weak difference and the relationship between Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2D and Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tools (version 3) with the help of Pearson’s Correlation. The responses given by athletes on mental skills questionnaire in Hindi and English language, which assessed 48 questions based on foundation skills, psychosomatic skills and cognitive skills. In other hand the responses of athletes on mental skills and competitive anxiety questionnaire in Hindi and English language assessed cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence. According to the results and finding of this study, it is recommended that coaches must use mental skills during training for their athlete’s performance which helpful for the athlete’s to facilitate the performance and reduce the anxiety level during competition and create a positive approach’s for their goal attainment. This study revealed that Mental Skills are helpful to established positive approaches in athletes in relations to their performance. The statistical analysis uses define the Reliability of Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool -3 skills and relationship between OMSAT-3 and CSAI-2D on Indian athletes. The Pearson’s Correlation method used with Test-Retest on athletes which measures significant relationship between 3 skills of mental skill tool and Person’s Product Moment Correlation also used on Indian athlete’s performance which measures the significant relationship between mental skills and competitive anxiety.
Social Support in the Association between Death Anxiety and Psychological Distress among Nurses
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maya Kagan
Based on the stress-buffering model, the current study sought to examine the moderating role of perceived social support in the association between death anxiety and psychological distress among nurses. Selected variables found in previous studies to correlate with psychological distress served in the current study as covariates to control for their relationship with psychological distress: gender, years of professional experience, self-rated health, self-efficacy, and self-defined burnout. Structured questionnaires were administered to a sample of 795 professionally active nurses in Israel of whom 80.4% were women. The mean age of the respondents in the total sample was 38.11 (Sd=11.12). Higher levels of death anxiety were found to be associated with higher levels of psychological distress only among nurses with lower levels of perceived social support (β=0.08, p <.001), yet no association was found between these variables (p>.05) among nurses with higher levels of perceived social support. In contrast to studies that found no empirical proof of stress-buffering model, the current findings support the stress buffering hypothesis. Perceived social support can serve as a stress buffering mechanism. Therefore, it is important to improve support mechanisms at the workplace and to promote informational and educational efforts in order to increase the awareness of professional managers, the nurses themselves, and their family to the issue of support. Yet, the stress-buffering model should not be treated as a universal model, rather it must be considered in the particular methodological context in which it is examined
Promoting the Psychological Health and Emotional Wellness of Racialized Black Men in the United States
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Allen Lipscomb
This paper is designed to provide an overview to scholars, professionals and other health and wellness providers in learning how to recognize and promote the psychological and emotional wellness among racialized Black men in the United States. Specifically, this paper will examine the role of trauma, race and gender on the psyche. In addition, effective ways to assist Black men in their healing process will be addressed. The paper will also focus on practice elements and techniques for providing wellness psychological support to Black men with emphasis on mind, body and soul. The goal of the paper is to teach, inform and inspire others to provide culturally appropriate clinical services to Black men who have experienced traumatic losses.
