Women in health service psychology programs: Stress, self-care, and quality of life.

Abstract

Due in part to gender roles and their socialization as caretakers, women in health service psychology (HSP) programs may be vulnerable to experiencing stressful events that negatively impact their professional and academic functioning. Two constructs are particularly germane to understanding the stress experienced by women in HSP programs: quality of life and self-care. However, scant literature exists on women in HSP programs, especially concerning the relations among stress, self-care, and quality of life. The purpose of our study was to address some of the conceptual-methodological deficiencies in the literature by empirically testing the application of the health promotion model to women in HSP doctoral programs. The investigation tested the extent to which self-care activities moderated the negative association between stress and quality of life (QL) in a sample of 558 women enrolled in HSP programs throughout the United States. The most salient findings were (a) women in HSP programs, compared to other populations, evidenced substantively higher stress levels and lower self-care and overall QL; (b) stress was uniquely and inversely, though modestly, related to QL, whereas self-care and its moderating effects were not; and (c) self-care and quality of life were best conceptualized and analyzed as multidimensional constructs. The findings suggest stress levels may have a significantly larger effect on QL than self-care for women in HSP doctoral programs. Results also suggest QL and self-care are multidimensional constructs and need to be analyzed as such. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.

Relationship between self-care activities, stress and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown: a cross-cultural mediation model

“…Therefore, our results suggest that adopting self-care activities can improve people’s well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown, but the higher the perceived stress of the situation, the more difficult it is to engage in self-care activities, resulting in a lower perception of psychological well-being. The present results are in line with those studies conducted in psychology students 16 or professionals 13 which have shown a relationship between personal care and well-being. In the same way, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, improvement in personal resources seems to be relevant to overcome stress and its associated health problems.…”

“…[7][8][9][10][11] In contrast, the adoption of self-care activities and health behaviours could play a critical role in the prevention of immediate and subsequent complications. 12 However, its role has been especially studied in patients with chronic conditions, women and healthcare professionals, [13][14][15][16][17][18] and none in the general population or in extraordinary situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

U.S. medical students who engage in self-care report less stress and higher quality of life

“…In the current study, 56.5% of respondents endorsed scores of 25 or higher ( M = 21.1, SD = 7.2 for age-matched peers [ 33 ]), meaning over half of the students in the sample reported stress levels substantively higher than that of age matched peers in the U.S. population. Although high in comparison to the general population, such elevations on the Perceived Stress Scale are not uncommon and have been found in other samples, including doctoral level pharmacy students [ 39 , 40 ], Physician Assistant students [ 40 ]; doctoral level psychology students [ 41 ], and practicing health service professionals (i.e., dietician/nutrition professionals, nurses, physicians, social workers) [ 42 ].…”

The science of training III: Supervision, competency, and internship training.

“…The positive effects on self-care seemed to be carried by the mindfulness aspect of acceptance techniques taught as part of the ACT course. These differential effects underscore evidence pointing to trainee self-care as a multidimensional construct (Ayala, Ellis, Grudev, & Cole, 2017). A dismantling design that more carefully parses mindfulness and acceptance effects on selfcare skills training could be useful in designing training that is intended to foster self-care competency.…”