Browsing by Author "Van Zyl, Reinette"
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- ItemDevelopment and evaluation of a wellbeing structural model for health sciences students(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Van Zyl, Reinette; Boonzaier, Billy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.ENGLISH SUMMARY : Health sciences students experience a great amount of personal distress throughout their training. This has potential adverse effects on their professionalism, competence, academic performance, and personal wellbeing. For instance, studies have found medical students to have a higher rate of depression and suicidal ideation than their age-matched peers. Students adopt various coping mechanisms to manage this stress, and often these coping mechanisms are maladaptive. These challenges have consequences for our society as a whole: not only does South Africa have a shortage of healthcare professionals, but if these issues remain unresolved, they can endanger the lives of health sciences students and seriously jeopardise patient care. It is thus essential to take a deeper look at the wellbeing of health sciences students in order to solve the dilemma. The focus of past industrial psychology literature on the wellbeing of health sciences students has typically highlighted the negative aspects of wellbeing, such as burnout. This is understandable, as burnout is a major area of concern, especially amongst health sciences students. However, one cannot help but be curious why some health sciences students do not develop burnout, regardless of high job demands. Instead, they may experience a sense of academic engagement. These students are better able to cope than their peers under highly demanding and stressful work conditions. The following research-initiating question is therefore the driver of this study: “Why is there variance in the wellbeing (engagement and burnout) of health sciences students at Stellenbosch University?” The job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2018) was used as a framework to investigate the wellbeing of health sciences students at Stellenbosch University. The primary objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a partial structural model to portray the network of variables that affect the wellbeing (engagement and burnout) of health sciences students at Stellenbosch University (based on the JD-R model). The antecedents comprise social support (as a job resource), mindfulness and emotional intelligence (as students’ personal resources), and work overload (as a job demand), which are present in a health sciences education environment. An ex post facto correlational design was used to test the formulated hypotheses within this research study. Quantitative data was collected from 357 health sciences students by means of non-probability convenience sampling. A self-administered voluntary web-based questionnaire was sent to Stellenbosch University health sciences students. The measuring instruments consisted of (a) the 14-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Survey (UWES-S) (Schaufeli, Martínez, Pinto, Salanova, & Bakker, 2002a), (b) the 15-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-S) (Schaufeli et al., 2002a), (c) a seven-item social support scale devised by Susskind, Kacmar, and Borchgrevink (2003), (d) the 15-item Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), (d) the 14-item Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Genos EI) (Palmer, Stough, Harmer, & Gignac, 2009), and (e) the eight-item overload subscale within the Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS) (Rothmann, Mostert, & Strydom, 2006). The data was analysed using item analyses and structural equation modelling (SEM). A partial least squares (PLS) path analysis was conducted to determine the model fit. From the 11 hypotheses formulated in the study, five of the paths were found to be significant, though only four supported the JD-R theory. It is important to note that four of the insignificant paths were related to the moderating effects (the fifth being significant, but not supporting the JD-R theory – hypothesis 11). Hypotheses 3 and 4 were also found not to be statistically significant. Nevertheless, hypotheses 1, 2, 5, and 9 were all found to be statistically significant and supported the JD-R theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2018). Additional paths were also found that could contribute to an extension of the JD-R theory. The findings of the study shed light on the importance of interventions that can foster job resources and personal resources in the pursuit of optimising health sciences student wellbeing, especially in the face of high demands.