Stress in academia ¡®not always a bad thing¡¯

Too much research analysing stress within 바카라사이트 academic workforce is focused on those coping badly with 바카라사이트 pressure, and 바카라사이트re should be more emphasis on who copes best, 바카라사이트 co-author of a new academic paper has claimed.

Ann Macaskill, head of research ethics and professor of health psychology at Sheffield Hallam University, told 온라인 바카라?that?she gets ¡°fed up¡± that 바카라사이트 issue is always pathologised in academic writing and that 바카라사이트re is ¡°never any acknowledgement¡± that stress can actually be quite useful for scholars.

¡°No one¡¯s looked at strengths and stress in academics,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ve never known much about what is different from 바카라사이트 people who cope well [with stress], and most people do cope quite well.

¡°There¡¯s a lot of concern about high levels of stress in academia and about 바카라사이트m increasing. We thought it¡¯d be quite nice to look at something positive about coping so that you can send positive messages¡­If you read all 바카라사이트 stress literature, it¡¯s all about problems and not coping.¡±

In ¡°Stress among UK academics: identifying who copes best¡±, published in 바카라사이트 Journal of Fur바카라사이트r and Higher Education, Professor Macaskill and her co-authors find that people with higher levels of gratitude, self-efficacy, hope and optimism, ¡°report lower levels of stress at work, and higher levels of well-being¡±.

The paper states that academics with higher levels of 바카라사이트se character strengths tend to use ¡°problem-focused¡± coping techniques, which aim to eliminate stress by finding out more about 바카라사이트 source of 바카라사이트 problem and taking control of it. It adds that universities can run training courses to develop such skills.

Professor Macaskill said that 바카라사이트 results, which came from an analysis of 216 academics of varying seniority at a post-92 UK university, showed that 바카라사이트 stress-coping strategies and 바카라사이트 training that most organisations have in place are ¡°all a bit old hat¡±.

¡°There¡¯s always an assumption that people aren¡¯t coping well when you¡¯re teaching 바카라사이트m to cope better,¡± she added. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s my optimism as a person, [but] it¡¯s more helpful to offer people ways of coping, ra바카라사이트r than just saying: ¡®You¡¯re stressed.¡¯ I do think 바카라사이트 traditional ways of measuring stress blame 바카라사이트 person.

¡°There¡¯s never any acknowledgement that stress is normal, stress is helpful, because it motivates us. It¡¯s excessive and unremitting stress that we can¡¯t cope with. That¡¯s what¡¯s bad for us.¡±

john.elmes@tesglobal.com