Development of a self-guided stress management intervention for postsecondary teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Abstract
Occupational stress among university and college faculty has significantly increased over the past decade. Employee wellness programs aim to reduce work-related stress through a class of evidence-based activities known as Stress Management Interventions (SMIs). During the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges in the daily work of academics have simultaneously exacerbated stressful working conditions and exposed shortcomings in traditional face-to-face stress management interventions. Due to time constraints, cost, low scalability, and a high access threshold, the implementation of SMIs on campuses falls short of a national goal set by the United States Department of Health (2010). In addition, existing SMIs are underutilized (Heber et al., 2017). There is a substantial need for more broad-based attention to the health and wellness of university/college faculty, and with the accelerated adoption of work-from-home policies there are calls for the development of internet-based SMIs. This doctoral project investigates evidence and best practice in managing occupational stress among academicians, identifies tools within occupational therapy practice to accommodate remote work, and outlines a development plan to create a cost-effective, internet-based SMI designed for improved administrative implementation and faculty utilization. The program is based on the Person-Environment-Occupation model from occupational therapy literature, which focuses on an individual’s performance as shaped by the congruence of their personal domain (e.g., mental and physical health, self-concept, perceived role, cognition), occupational domain (e.g., their work), and their environment (e.g., physical, institutional, social environments) (Law et al., 1996).