Analysis of contexts of coping with occupational stress: subjective experiences of educational support and social welfare professionals

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Mokymai; Profesinis stresas; Socialiniai darbuotojai; Subjektyvi patirtis; Visuomenė; Įveikimas; Š viečiamoji pagalba ir socialinės pagalbos profesionalai; Educational support; Educational support and social welfare professionals; Occupational stress; Professionals; Social welfare; Subjective experience; The coping.

ENIn recent decades, as constant political, economic, and social changes take place, as the rhythm of personal and professional life intensifies, stress becomes a constant companion. Strong stressful experiences can lead to nervous, mental, psychosomatic illnesses, and can cause occupational burnout syndrome – the result of stress in the work environment, when the requirements for the individual are high, meanwhile personality and professional resources are limited. Despite the fact that there is a lot of research about the expression of occupational stress among different professionals but opportunities, techniques and strategies for coping with stress are increasingly being analysed. Coping with stress can be considered as a process, during which the individual attempts to manage a burdensome environmental influence through cognitive and physical activity, or as a stabilizing factor that can help the professional adapt to stressful situations The impact of stress experienced by educational support and social welfare professionals on their professional activity and the opportunities of coping with it have been analysed applying a qualitative research approach. The research problem is defined by the questions that require a new empirical analysis: What is the impact of stress experienced by educational support and social welfare professionals on their professional activity? What is the context of coping with stress in terms of the subjective experiences of the professionals? What are the techniques and strategies these professionals use to manage stressful situations? The main aim of the research to reveal the impact of stress experienced by educational support and social welfare professionals on their professional activity and the opportunities of coping with it. The sample and methodology of the research.Respondents were selected by targeted convenience sampling (N = 27), employed in education and training or care institutions with at least two years professional experience and higher university education, were sampled. A qualitative data collection approach was chosen to analyse the subjective experience of these professionals (semi-structured interview), the ontological basis of which consisted of the interpretive constructivist paradigm stating that social phenomena and their meanings are constructed by people, researchers and experts operating in various social contexts. In the course of the research, we used subjective interpretive epistemology, which foresees that social reality is understood and reconstructed by analysing, reflecting, and interpreting it (Bitinas, Rupšienė, & Žydžiūnaitė, 2008 ). The approaches of the methodology of interpretive research allow to explain how the participants of the research – education support and social welfare professionals – subjectively perceive the real field of occupational stress and coping opportunities, and what meanings they attribute to it. This reality is reconstructed from the perspective of professionals, is subjective and is revealed during an individual semi-structured interview, where the participants’ attitude towards the phenomenon under investigation is highlighted. Summarizing the experience of the impact of stress experienced by educational support and social welfare professionals on their professional activity, the dual effect of this phenomenon is revealed. On the one hand, the generalized semantic units reveal a negative (health and attention disorders, unproductive work, decrease of motivation) impact of stress (distress) on the professional activity, on the other hand, they reveal a positive impact (eustress), which mobilizes and provokes changes in professional activity and encourages improvement.This implies the concept of the phenomenon of stress as an inevitable component of human life. The context of coping with stressful situations in professional activity reveals the professionals’ options described as withdrawal from a stressful situation, seeking social support, and problem solving, where stimulatory-reactive or retreative-dispositional coping with stress is relatively dominant. Narrower stress coping options are probably influenced by a young and not sufficiently developed professional support system for social support professionals who experience stressful situations, socialcultural tolerance of stress, lack of interest and activity from the professionals themselves. Involvement of experts in this field, peer involvement, and the use of specific methods are likely to increase the opportunities for coping with stress experienced by educational support and social welfare professionals. Reconstructing the field of coping with occupational stress of professionals reveals the multidimensionality of this process, allowing to analyze the phenomenon in the context of many ambiguous variables (physical and mental health, personality characteristics, social conditions, etc.). It is likely that coping with stress should also be associated with the assessment of different variables (intrapersonal, interpersonal, societal), where the flexible use of the strengths of personal and social environmental resources becomes important. [From the publication]

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