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Prevalence and Organisational Factors of Psychological Injury Among Australian School Teachers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2014

Adam Garrick ,
Peter C. Winwood ,
Anita S. Mak ,
Stuart Cathcart ,
Arnold B. Bakker  and
Kurt Lushington
Adam Garrick*
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Psychology, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Peter C. Winwood
Affiliation:
Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Anita S. Mak
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Psychology, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Stuart Cathcart
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Psychology, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Arnold B. Bakker
Affiliation:
Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Kurt Lushington
Affiliation:
Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Adam Garrick, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In this study, we investigated the prevalence, severity, and organisational factors of risk for psychological injury in a national sample of Australian school teachers, using the Psychological Injury Risk Indicator. We predicted that teachers would report higher levels of risk for psychological injury if working in schools located in rural areas, with a low socioeconomic index, and low psychosocial safety climate. Teachers from across Australia (N = 960) completed an online survey that measured risk for psychological injury and relevant organisational factors. We found a high number of teachers (26%) whose responses showed high risk, indicating the need for professional intervention in order to avoid potentially debilitating psychological injury. Analyses also showed main effects for two organisational factors, indicating that teachers most at risk for psychological injury tended to be employed by schools with low psychosocial safety climate and in areas with a low socioeconomic index. These results highlight the severe levels of work-related psychological injury risk in the Australian teacher population, and the important role for school administration and education departments in maintaining a working environment that supports staff psychologically.

Keywords

psychological injurypsychosocial safety climateteacherswork stress
Type
Articles
Information
The Australasian Journal of Organisational Psychology , Volume 7 , 2014 , e5
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014 

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