Work-related stress in Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG)

Kingdom, Susan E. 2010. Work-related stress in Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG). PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

The aim of this research was to gain an understanding of work-related stress in a previously unstudied occupational group, Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG). The overall level of stress was established at 11%, contrary to expectations and lower than the 17% found in general population comparison samples. Despite this relatively lower level, measures reflecting the Effort-Reward-lmbalance (ERI), Job Demands-Control-Support (JDCS) and Negative Occupational Factors Models of stress were all associated with seven negative outcomes (stress, anxiety, depression, number of sick days, perception that illness was caused or made worse from work, inability to "relax or wind down" and impact on family life) and up to a further nine, dependent upon the model. Significant predictors of stress included ERI, organisation change and exposure to physical agents (noise), with anxiety predicted by ERI, noise and bullying, and depression by ERI, bullying, noise, training and role conflict/ambiguity. The level of depression found was significantly higher than a general population comparison group. ERI was a consistent theme throughout and the most efficient model in explaining variance in the data. Those who had high effort- reward imbalance were nine times more likely to experience stress, 13 times more likely to experience anxiety and six times more likely to suffer from depression. Using the JDCS Model, HMCG were found to have significantly lower job demands and decision latitude but significantly higher levels of moderating social support. A second, pilot study, which focused on job specific factors, indicated that critical incidents involving death of a child might be the most stressful to handle but that frequency of exposure, amongst a range of other influences, were having a moderating effect. Whilst demonstrating that lower levels of stress are still harmful, there were also aspects of this group which may help with stress reduction elsewhere. Implications for further research are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
ISBN:	9781303222191
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 23:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/55067

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