Psychologist Self-Care, Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, and Coping Self-Efficacy Across the Career-Span

<p>Psychologists are expected to engage in self-care strategies aimed at promoting and maintaining well-functioning in themselves (Saakvitne & Pearlman, 1996) in order to effectively manage the demands of their profession and better ensure the provision of quality care. However, self-care is also a clinical competency of professional psychology that has historically been insufficiently addressed in training (Donovan & Ponce, 2009). According to the APA Board of Professional Affairs Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance, a better understanding of functioning in psychologists is necessary to properly promote self-care across the career-span (2005). There is a need for research in this area to establish evidence-based self-care practices. This study lends empirical support for an increased focus on psychologist self-care with specific attention to the relationships between Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, and Coping Self-Efficacy across the career-span. Results largely support hypotheses that there are significant relationships between the variables. With regard to differences in sample means across the career-span, Late career psychologists’ scores were significantly higher than Early career psychologists’ for Self-Care frequency and Coping Self-Efficacy. Late career psychologists’ Perceived Stress levels were significantly lower. Further, there are differences in frequency and type of Self-Care practices between Early and Late career psychologists. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Counseling Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Professional Psychology and Family Therapy

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Dettle, Krista L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Laura K. Palmer, PhD
• Pamela F. Foley, PhD
• Margaret Brady-Amoon, PhD
• John E. Smith, EdD

• psychologist
• career-span
• self-care
• perceived stress
• coping self-efficacy
• Counseling Psychology
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2000

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.shu.edu:dissertations-3017