Investigators
Luke Tomlin, Associate Professor Ben Jackson, Professor James Dimmock and Dr Timothy Budden
Project description
Mental health problems are prevalent in working populations worldwide. Researchers attribute many of these issues to rising work pressures, which can lead to the development of conditions such as depression, anxiety, distress, and burnout.
Individuals who work in school settings appear particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of work- stress when compared to other working populations. Schools are characterised by high levels of staff turnover and burnout, and teachers—compared to those in other professions—often report lower levels of staff well-being.
Although some stressors are unavoidable, there are numerous interventions and best practices that are designed to reduce negative work-stress related outcomes. However, most of these work-stress initiatives have been utilised in more traditional business settings and are underutilised in school settings. And, although many interventions targeting teacher wellbeing do still exist, high rates of attrition and burnout persist in the profession. Researchers have begun to explore the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) in school settings, which aim to stimulate positive experiences and promote thriving, instead of solely mitigating negative experiences. Further, PPIs that incorporate resilience-building strategies may be particularly important in enhancing the positive effects of unavoidable stress that characterise the teaching profession. Although there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of PPIs that target wellbeing and resilience in teachers, the field is still in its infancy and more attention is needed to understand how best to design, implement, and refine PPIs to best support teacher wellbeing.
One promising example is the Growth and resilience in teachers’ program (GRIT) which is a research-informed social-support and coping initiative for high school teachers. The program was developed with the goal of supporting teacher wellbeing and bolstering resilience by strengthening social connections, putting in place necessary school support structures and teaching personal skills and coping strategies to assist teachers in adapting positively to stress.
The program has been tested for feasibility and has displayed signs of preliminary efficacy across WA high schools, but the pilot program of GRIT did not include a control group, was restricted due to implementation challenges, involved no clear process evaluation, and did not assess long-term or multi-level outcomes. These limitations aren’t just unique to GRIT but are consistent with the broader PPI literature and require further investigation if PPIs are to be improved and optimized to support teacher wellness.
As such, this project is designed to improve our understanding of (a) effective program design and implementation of PPIs aimed at teacher wellbeing (b) to report on the outcomes of an existing school-based PPI targeting teacher resilience and (c) assess the quality of implementation of this intervention through an in-depth process evaluation. As such, the guiding aim of this doctoral research is to explore how school-based PPIs can be designed, refined, and implemented to best support teachers’ wellness.
Funders
- The University of Western Australia
External collaborators
- James Cook University (Townsville)
- Curtin University