Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument
Objectives Despite regularly reporting high levels of occupational stress, lawyers are an under‐researched group in this field. The first objective of this research is to develop a short measure assessing two common work stress management techniques (WSMS) commonly employed by lawyers: relaxation an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Australian Journal of Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12244 |
| _version_ | 1827814607573483520 |
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| author | Paula Brough Anna Boase |
| author_facet | Paula Brough Anna Boase |
| author_sort | Paula Brough |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Despite regularly reporting high levels of occupational stress, lawyers are an under‐researched group in this field. The first objective of this research is to develop a short measure assessing two common work stress management techniques (WSMS) commonly employed by lawyers: relaxation and cognitive restructuring. A second objective is to assess the impact of three key job characteristics and two work stress management techniques upon levels of psychological strain, job satisfaction, and work engagement in a sample of lawyers. Method Drawing on the Job Demands Control‐Support theoretical explanation of occupational stress, we assessed the impact of the two stress management techniques upon three key psychological outcomes, in comparison with three common job characteristics. An anonymous survey was administered to lawyers employed in one Australian state and produced a respondent sample of N = 114. Results Confirmatory factor analysis produced acceptable psychometric results for the six‐item WSMS. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that job demands was not directly associated with any of the three criterion variables. Importantly, cognitive restructuring was as strongly associated with job satisfaction and work engagement, compared to the three job characteristics. Cognitive restructuring techniques were also associated with high levels of work engagement even when experiencing high job demands. Conclusions The implications for occupational stress experienced by lawyers, the current popularity of occupational resilience and organisational wellness programs, and the assessment of generic job characteristics are all discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:48:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e41b988ab9c644beb87efc54813dbc33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0004-9530 1742-9536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:48:34Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Australian Journal of Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e41b988ab9c644beb87efc54813dbc332023-09-19T08:54:47ZengTaylor & Francis GroupAustralian Journal of Psychology0004-95301742-95362019-09-0171327328410.1111/ajpy.1224412098940Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrumentPaula Brough0Anna Boase1School of Applied Psychology, Griffith UniversitySchool of Applied Psychology, Griffith UniversityObjectives Despite regularly reporting high levels of occupational stress, lawyers are an under‐researched group in this field. The first objective of this research is to develop a short measure assessing two common work stress management techniques (WSMS) commonly employed by lawyers: relaxation and cognitive restructuring. A second objective is to assess the impact of three key job characteristics and two work stress management techniques upon levels of psychological strain, job satisfaction, and work engagement in a sample of lawyers. Method Drawing on the Job Demands Control‐Support theoretical explanation of occupational stress, we assessed the impact of the two stress management techniques upon three key psychological outcomes, in comparison with three common job characteristics. An anonymous survey was administered to lawyers employed in one Australian state and produced a respondent sample of N = 114. Results Confirmatory factor analysis produced acceptable psychometric results for the six‐item WSMS. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that job demands was not directly associated with any of the three criterion variables. Importantly, cognitive restructuring was as strongly associated with job satisfaction and work engagement, compared to the three job characteristics. Cognitive restructuring techniques were also associated with high levels of work engagement even when experiencing high job demands. Conclusions The implications for occupational stress experienced by lawyers, the current popularity of occupational resilience and organisational wellness programs, and the assessment of generic job characteristics are all discussed.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12244cognitive restructuringjob satisfactionlawyerspsychological strainstress managementwork engagement |
| spellingShingle | Paula Brough Anna Boase Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument Australian Journal of Psychology cognitive restructuring job satisfaction lawyers psychological strain stress management work engagement |
| title | Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument |
| title_full | Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument |
| title_fullStr | Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument |
| title_full_unstemmed | Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument |
| title_short | Occupational stress management in the legal profession: Development, validation, and assessment of a stress‐management instrument |
| title_sort | occupational stress management in the legal profession development validation and assessment of a stress management instrument |
| topic | cognitive restructuring job satisfaction lawyers psychological strain stress management work engagement |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12244 |
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