Educators’ occupational well-being in health and social care education

Abstract

Background The occupational well-being (OW) of educators can be defined as a balance between resources and workload factors as seen from four aspects of working life: (i) individual, (ii) working conditions, (iii) professional competence and (iv) work community. The research in this study examined the individual aspect as particular importance to the physical and mental workability of educators. Aims To study the individual aspect of the OW of educators as well as the associating factors. Methods A cross-sectional survey design was conducted among educators working in health and social care education in Finland. The data were collected with an electronic survey using the ‘Occupational well-being of social and health care teachers—index questionnaire’. The data were analysed with an SPSS version 27 using descriptive statistics, explorative factor analysis and linear regression analysis. Results The educators (n = 552, response rate 31%) assessed their resources for managing their mental workload as quite poor (2.41, standard deviation [SD] 0.98). In addition, workplace support promoting OW was assessed as being quite poor (2.37, SD 0.88), and as especially requiring more measures during working hours. Associations with the individual aspect of OW were found between the personal and work-related background variables as well as overall OW. Conclusions The perceptions of the educators indicated that resources to cope with workload factors should be promoted. Investing in educators’ resources at work, enabling well-being actions during working hours and avoiding backlog situations would all help promote the educators’ OW.

The relationship between psychological contract and occupational wellbeing of mother–infant care helpers in Zhejiang Province

“…The International Labour Organization [ 20 ] considers occupational wellbeing as being constructed from all aspects of working life, including the workers’ perceptions of their work, the physical and mental working environment and the working community; considering these aspects will generate healthy, satisfied and engaged workers. The wellbeing was much studied in occupations such as physicians [ 19 ], nurses [ 18 ] and educators [ 21 ], and studies have shown that occupational wellbeing was influenced by leadership style, work environments, social support, employees' opportunities and work relationships [ 18 , 22 , 23 ]. Previous studies have mostly focused on the impacts of work-related factors.…”

Effectiveness of an Occupational Well-being Intervention Among Nurse Educators

“…In this model, the overall E27 (eg, collegiality); (3) working conditions (eg, physical factors); and (4) professional competence (eg, pedagogical skills). 2,8 The focus of this study is in the first of these 4 aspects, the personal resource-workload-balance.…”

“…10 Self-Help INtervention for Educators (SHINE) was created to be applicable to the daily working life of educators working in nursing education needing better resource-workload-balance. 2,3 There are 4 resourceworkload-balance promoting components implemented in SHINE: (1) physical activity at work; (2) recovery activities at work; (3) self-regulation development activities at work; and (4) workplace support for personal resources promoting activities at work. The aim of SHINE is to promote the resource-workload-balance (primary outcome); its associated factors (overall OW and general well-being [GW], secondary outcomes); and its promotive factors (physical activity, recovery experiences, self-regulation, and workplace support, condition outcomes) (see Supplemental Digital Content, Figure 1, available at: http://links.lww.com/NE/B363).…”

“…7 Workplace support is the support from managers and work colleagues for activities to promote personal resources, which is highly valued but inadequate among educators working in nursing education. 2,3 Moreover, workplace support and the involvement of managers in an intervention development and delivery are likely to promote the adoption of well-being actions at work. 6 The study hypothesis was that SHINE will improve nurse educators' resource-workload-balance and the associated and promoting factors compared with their level prior to the intervention and when compared with a control group (CG) both in post and 1-month follow-up periods.…”

“…here is a shortage of nurse educators due to retirement and attrition in the profession, 1 and educators are experiencing heavy workload affecting their occupational well-being (OW). [2][3][4] The global challenge of shortage in the nursing workforce has also set demands on investing in nursing education. 4,5 OW is at an inadequate level because of high workload, the lack of support for personal resources, and the inability to take breaks.…”