Study on stress management for teachers in Malaysia

Study on var. management for teachers in MalaysiaTeaching is ace of the most vehemenceful strains in Malaysia. The talk on filtrate Management for Teachers (Kolej Disted-Stamford news, 23 February 2008) decl ard that parameter is a challenging profession and hence, teachers could do with learning how to de-stress to harbor good wellness and towering school spirits. in that location be dickens main sources of stress which strickle teachers forbidding workload and students occupation. Nowadays, a teachers duty is multifaceted as they undertake not unless pedagogy save also matters associated with curriculum, students, p arnts, the school community as well as departmental initiatives.Another key overstep to note, the success of the newly launched case Education Blueprint has given a big imp accomplishment on the development of the schools and teachers themselves. This plan is expected to produce intellectual students who be able to collect info and pack knowledge and skills, instead of purely memorizing knowledge. Education system should cater to the needs of all students smart, mediocre, weak or disabled. The success of the National Education Blueprint depends on the teachers ability, quality, skills and effectiveness in educating students. Teachers are required to stand proficient skills in teaching and educating students to fulfill the governments aspiration in providing world class education. As a result of this new system, married young-bearing(prenominal) teachers whitethorn face an increase in workload which lead in plough affect their work performance as well as their mental social welfare. match to Smylie (1999), These are tough times organism a teacher (p. 59). Ewing and Smith (2003) reported that amid 25% and 40% of beginning teachers in the Western World countries are leaving teaching or veneering burnout syndrome. Over the past ten years, umpteen interrogati whizzrs focal pointsed on the effect of work overload on wo rk-family fighting. Generally, they prove that high levels of work overload led to higher levels of work-family bout (WFC). From a personalized perspective, suggested that the demands that employees hit to fulfil considering their resources namely time and emotions to hallow to work with less devote to their families. work demands require employees to devote to a greater extent resources namely time and emotions to work, leaving them with fewer resources to devote to their families.Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) define work-family competitiveness as a type of inter- constituent contradict in which role pressures from work and family are mutually unsuitable. That is, work demands are not compatible with family demands (Allen, Herst, Bruck, and Sutton, 2000). Allen et al. (2000) reviewed the kindred between work-family conflict and (a) work-related outcomes, (b) non-work-related outcomes, (c) stress-related outcomes and generally found signifi squeeze outt kindreds across the se areas. They concluded that work-family conflict has important personal and organizational consequences.It is important to note that the early research on multiple roles focused almost on women, particularly on women who occupied the roles of wife, mother, and employee. The multiple roles of women whitethorn affect the benefit of the family more(prenominal) as the husband, children and including the wife herself. difference of opinion occurs when a family is unable to cope with this multiples roles effectively and the result has been found to affect work contentment and psychological upbeat (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985 Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991 Phelan et al., 1991).In order to maintain the health and success of teachers and schools, greater understanding of WFC is fundamental. Consequently, the influence of WFC in the prediction of psychological eudaemonia is receiving increasing attention (e.g., ODriscoll, Brough, and Kalliath, 2004). This has led to an step-up in the number of occupational stress researchers as well as WFC variables in their estimates of both mortal health and work performance (Brough O Driscoll, 2005).Research suggests that an individuals self- force in a specific domain provides information regarding how the individual perceive and cope with challenges. In the case of managing conflict that inevitably arise between personal and professional responsibilities, assessing work-family conflict efficacy may provide a unique perspective on what dexterity ultimately help to curve the negative outcomes namely decrease in life and job contentment that are associated with work-family conflict. Understanding how self-efficacy function in the blood between work-family conflict and these outcomes could bring about important therapeutic measures for women experiencing work-family conflict.Self-efficacy is defined as, peoples judgments in their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance (p. 391). Bandura (1977) expound self-efficacy as a key determinant of psychological change, choice of settings and activities, quality of performance in a specific domain, and level of persistence when one meets adverse or negative experiences.Having mentioned about efficacy, other predictors may also have significance in contri only ifing to WFC and eudaemonia. religious deal and religiosity that have been found to affect health status positively, including overall morbidity and mortality, acute conditions, fatal ailments, pain and chronic affection (Levin, 1994). Religious belief has been perceived as one way of act with conflict. The positive influence of unearthly certainty on well-organism was found to be direct and substantial, whereby individuals with a strong religious faith reported higher levels of life satisfaction and greater personal happiness (Ellison, 1991), as well as lower levels of incommode (Ross, 1990). Religious activities especially praye rs are usually regarded as positive deal defeeblenesss direct toward both the problem and personal growth (Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Shetter, De Longis Gruis, 1986).Due to the insufficient of information on the psychological outcomes of combining work and family roles among Malaysian women, the present canvas is aimed at investigating the direct and substantiative traffichips between WFC efficacy, religious manage, WFC and upbeat. The study hypothesized that the relationship between WFC efficacy, religious contend and well-being is mediated by WFC. Therefore, the proposed sample hypothesized WFC to act as an intervening variable between WFC efficacy and religious coping and well-being among female teachers in Malaysia.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMChanges in family structures are transforming the workplace while adjustments in parental work patterns are altering family life. Thus, there has been a dramatic increase in rates of paid employment globally among mothers with children. Research on WFC since the past 30 years has been fuelled by the growing proportion of employees who are dual-earner partners or single parents. As the number of working women with young children at home and dual-career households rise, so does the need for research and organizational attention towards potentially reducing stress due to WFC. Research to date suggests that high levels of work-family conflict are related to dysfunctional outcomes such as life dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and poor health in individual, increase interpersonal conflict and divorce in relationships, and as for the organizations, namely absenteeism, tardiness and loss of talented employees.Besides that, The National Union of The Teaching Profession (NUTP) Secretary, General Lok Yim Pheng, in New Sunday Times, May 18, 2008, informed that teachers are overloaded with paper work and they are pressured to train students on how to answer examination questions. Teachers must unceasingly maintain the q uality of their work, try to improve their productivity and acquire knowledge and skills to develop human outstanding in the globalized world. Moreover, teachers play an essential role in shaping a community as their products of educating efforts have to its functionality. These are the demands of teaching profession nowadays.Researchers have identified various stressors that may affect the psychological well-being of teachers and one of the stressor is workload that may lead to burnout. Although some researchers may argue that social status is one of the most important factors for psychological well-being (Bredemeier, 1979), it seems that excessive workload could impose an undue level of stress that is more serious than any other stressors. A large number of studies guide that teachers are loose to workload which results particularly in stress and strain. At least one threesome of teachers can be seen as suffering from extreme stress and/or burnout (e.g., Boyle, Borg, Falzon Baglioni, 1991 Friesen Sarros, 1989).Researchers have considered various unique antecedents to WFC (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985 Frone, 1992). However, the role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Only a few researchers have assessed the relationship between WFC efficacy and religious coping. For instance, Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be straightaway related to greater WIF conflict. There is a need to identify how WFC efficacy and religious coping can be linked with WFC and well-being in a causal relationship in the school setting. The present study uses the Structural compare manikin (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) to assure relationships among two independent (exogenous) and dependent (endogenous) variables simultaneously in a causal framework.With regard to personal resources, why do some teachers succeed in being good teachers continuously enhancing students achievements, setting high goals for themselves and pursuing them persistently, while others fail to meet expectations imposed on them and tend to collapse under the burden of everyday stress? Based on this statement, the study examines the problem by investigating the influence of teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping on work-family conflict and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia. If teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping can be proven to reduce WFC among female teachers, it seems likely to increase teachers WFC efficacy and improve teachers coping style using religious approach which in turn may boost teachers well-being. Again, if WFC efficacy and religious coping are causally related to WFC as hypothesized, this relationship will reduce teachers WFC and increase teachers well-being respectively.PURPOSE OF THE charterIn generally, this study serves the decision to examine the impact of WFC efficacy and religious coping on WFC and well-being of vicarious school teachers in Malaysia.To substan tiate the instruments utilized in this study, the researcher adopted the two-step Structural Equation Modeling. Then, the researcher estimated the hypothesized relationships.The primary purpose of this research is to do- commonsensicalate the instrument to assess WFC of female teachers in Malaysia which are Work-family conflict (WFC), Work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) Religious coping (RC), Well-being (WB) consisted of Health (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD). The study also estimates the relationships of WFC, WFC efficacy, RC and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia.RESEARCH QUESTIONSThe side by side(p) research questions are formulated to pass over the hypothesized relationships1. Are the constructs of work-family conflict, work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping and well-being valid and reliable?2. Does work-family conflict efficacy directly influenced the well-being of female teachers in Malaysia?3. Does work-family conflict efficacy indirect ly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia?4. Does religious coping directly influenced well-being of female teachers in Malaysia?5. Does religious coping indirectly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia?Does teachers work-family conflict directly influenced by their well-being?Does WFC-efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated?THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICTThe model of this study, which is derived from Frone et al., (1992), examines the interrelationships among the two predictors WFC efficacy and RC that may affect well-being directly and indirectly via work-family conflict.This research focuses on the variables that are considered snappy to increase well-being and to reduce WFC. The hypothesized interrelationships and interdependency among these variables are presented in Figure 1. The model depicts four metre models, labeled as efficacy accounted for the variability in W FC efficacy and FWC-efficacy. First, work-family conflict-efficacy (WFC efficacy) which acts as a predictor or an independent variable comprises work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) and family-work conflict efficacy (FWC efficacy) of work-family conflict and well-being. This type of personality may improve or increase ones well-being because it strongly affects a persons ability to do a task. Teachers WFC efficacy should aim at reducing teachers experiences with WFC aside from functioning as a personality booster. Thus, an individuals personality plays a role in the amount of work-family conflict that he or she experiences.The second latent variable, religious coping illustrates the vestigial factors for positive religious/spiritual coping (POS RC) and negative religious/spiritual coping (NEG RC). In order for teachers to cope with work-family conflict, they need to choose an effective coping style. In this study, religious coping as a second predictor of WFC and well-being may have significant relationships with both dependents. It is certainly reasonable to argue that teachers who manage their religious coping well would most likely have less WFC and a better well-being. In addition, the relationship between the two constructs namely WFC efficacy and religious coping would covary. In other words, the researcher believes that the constructs are correlated, barely does not assume that one construct is dependent upon another. This relationship is depicted by a two-headed arrow connection as shown in Figure 1. In the menstruation study, WFC efficacy and religious coping will be tested as predictors of WFC and well-being.The third latent variable, WFC, represents the underlying factor for Work-interfering-with-family and Family-interfering-with-work. WFC occurs when participation in the work role and the family role is incompatible in some respect. Work-family conflict can arise from 1) the time demands of one role that interfere with participation in the other role and 2) the stress that originates in one role that spills over into the other role which, only detracts from the latters quality of life. As a result, participation in one role is made more difficult by equity of participation in the other role. Individuals who invest more time or more psychological exponentiation in their work rather than their family experience the highest levels of work-to-family conflict and life stress, which ultimately reduce their quality of life.The fourth latent variable, well-being, accounts for the variability in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD) which is hypothesized to represent participants reported well-being. Thus, it is not what the situation offers but rather how we react to a situation that determines our well being. If work and family roles were imbalanced, conflict might occur which would in conclusion affect the well-being of a person. Effects will range from job-family dissatisfaction to health problems, which are viewed as psychological distress.Work-Family Conflict EfficacyH3Well-being(distress job dissatisfactionWork-familyConflict(wif,fiw) H2H7 H6H3Religious moveH5Figure 1 The Hypothesized Model of Work-family Conflict and Well-BeingNote Exogenous bring about WFC efficacy religious coping WFCEndogenous Construct WFC well-beingRESEARCH HYPOTHESISIn the hypothesized model, six hypotheses are tested to depict the relationships between work-family conflict and the three variables identified above. In the by-line discussion, each of these six hypotheses are identified and explained.The Reciprocal kindred between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy, Work-Family Conflict and Well-BeingStudies have shown that the personal resources that women bring with them into their roles explained more of the variance in reported strain symptoms than the role stressors alone (e.g. Amatea Fong, 1991). Self-efficacy in a particular domain has been indirectly and directly linked to out comes in that domain. For instance, Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994) suggested that self-efficacy promotes academic and vocational outcomes, such as interest, choice and performance. The conservation of resources model proposes that individuals act to acquire and maintain a variety of resources, such as objects, energies, condition and personal characteristic. On the basis of these findings, the following hypotheses are proposedH2 Those with high work-family conflict efficacy will portray increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction)H3 The effects of work-family conflict efficacy on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict, such that those with high work-family conflict efficacy demonstrate less conflict which will leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction).The Reciprocal Relationship between Religious Coping, Work-family Conflict and Well-BeingIn new years, a growing body of literature has explored the implications of religion and spir ituality for various mental and physical health outcomes (Koenig 1994). Other findings have also indicated that various dimensions of religiousness and spirituality may enhance the subjective states of well-being (Ellison, 1991). A report by the Fetzer Institute (2003), stated that a few studies in the US show that the subjective beneficial effects of participating in religious services, prayer and Bible reading are primarily due to their role in strengthening religious belief and individuals who describe themselves as having a strong religious faith report being happier and more satisfied with their lives. Most recently, Lapierre and Allen (2006) had used conservation of resources model to study the different coping methods employed by individuals to avoid WFC. They found that some coping methods are more useful than others to help individuals gain or conserve resources. Thus, the following hypotheses are proposedH4 Those with high religious coping show increased well-being (low di stress and low dissatisfaction).H5 The effects of religious coping on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict such that those with high religious coping portray less conflict which leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction)The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict and Well-BeingWork-family conflict has been found to have a significant negative relationship with calculated of psychological health rather than physical health (Mikkelsen Burke, 2004). Noor (2006) presented some selected research findings on work, family and womens well-being. The result showed that women were more strongly affected by the changes in their lives compared to men because so far when employed they are still primarily responsible for the home and family. Role theory and spillover theory are the underpinning theories to explain the connection between WFC and well-being. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposedH6 WFC negatively influences well-being.The Rec iprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy and Religious Coping CovaryJudge, Erez and Bono (1998) suggested that self-efficacy has a strong influence on individuals, whether they adopt an optimistic or pessimistic coping style (Seligman Schulman, 1996). They suggested that those with high generalized self-efficacy believe in their ability to change bad situations. The type of coping strategy selected has been shown to be related to the experience of work-family strain and overall well-being. Researchers have also found that self-efficacy is linked to the effectiveness of coping (Anderson, 1977 Bandura, 1977). On the basis of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposedH7 WFC efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYThis is a fundamental area of study for both researchers and practitioners, as more and more female teachers dispute having to take up with multiple roles in life being a wife, a parent and even a caretaker of elderly parents aside from her teaching profession. Teachers are the main doers in the process of forming a community and students are the products of teachers educating efforts.Due to the above basis, there are three important research areas that need focus namely theory, methodology and practicality.Firstly, from the theoretical viewpoint, less attention is devoted to examine how WFC and well-being are indirectly related to efficacy and RC. The studies by Frone (2003) called for the examination of personality dispositions as antecedents of WFC. The role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be directly related to greater WIF conflict. Although many studies on WFC involved nurses, managers, clericals, doctors, lawyers and engineers there were not many studies related to work and family conflict in the teaching profession.According to Kinicki et al.s (1996) review, the basic propositio n which states that environmental and personality variables influence the choice of coping strategies, has been generally back up by empirical research, but the relationships between coping strategies and outcomes are inconsistent. Research on coping should address both the effects of coping on appraisal and strain as well as vice versa (Harris, 1991). It is vital to note that this study focus on the relationships between religious coping and work-family conflict and well-being. Furthermore, crafty how women deal with the realities of their conflicts rather than how they feel about them seems particularly important. Therefore it is of great interest to get a deeper knowledge of the antecedents/predictors of the teachers work-family conflict.Secondly, is/from the methodological component/perspective. There are inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between WFC and well-being. Due to this reason, this study also investigates the direct and indirect relationships concurrent ly. Apart from that, this study also examines WFC efficacy as a predictor of WFC due to the inconclusive findings related to efficacy and stress. In the current study, the researcher examines work-family conflict efficacy that may play an important role as a predictor of WFC in increasing teachers well-being. Unfortunately, not much is known about the relationships between WFC efficacy, religious coping, WFC and well-being in Malaysian studies. Thus, this study examines direct and indirect relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being. By using Structural Equation Modeling, the direct and indirect relationships can be simultaneously tested. To achieve this purpose, the data are analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Additionally, there is only few research on WFC among teachers in the Malaysian creation utilizing SEM. The result of the study would substantiate understanding about the phenomenon of work-fa mily conflict in teacher population with the use of SEM.Thirdly, in practicality, it is important to study WFC and the psychological well-being of female school teachers. Studies has indicated that many teachers are incapable of juggling their professional and family roles effectively (Elbaz-Lubisch, 2002 Spencer, 1986). Teachers in Ackers study (1992) clearly thought that the combination roles of being a teacher and a mother were not at all convenient. Job satisfaction and teaching competence are important variables in regard to teachers continuity in the profession. For instance, studies by Certo and Fox (2002) indicated that job satisfaction in teaching was associated with aspects such as workplace conditions, administrative control, and organizational culture. It also touched(p) on how teachers felt about their own competencies like teaching accomplishments and their general feelings coming to work. When teacher satisfaction was examined by Scott and Dinham (2003), they found t hat it was influenced by students achievement and personal efficacy. Hence, it may be plausible to argue that a teachers well-being is influenced by job satisfaction and competence plus, reduced well-being associated with work may lead to stress that will in turn affect job performance.This study hopes to contribute to the importance of the relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being of female teachers. Work-family problems, if they are not effectively managed, will not only affect individuals and their families, but also adversely affect their employers and ultimately the society at large. Hence, the responsibility for ontogeny and implementing effective ways to reduce work-family interference and increase development should be shared by organizations, individuals and their families, as well as policy-makers. This study may also assist the policy-makers and administrators to implement intervention strategies aimed at managing teachers WFC, if thinkabl e reducing their workload.Additionally, practitioners are interested in the extent to which various interventions like family-friendly policies and programs, and the supportiveness of the work-family culture would actually reduce employees work-family role conflict. They are also interested in how this can have significant impact on a number of work, family and personal outcomes, as mentioned above. Therefore, future research should be aimed at examining the effectiveness of such interventions.LIMITATION OF THE STUDYFirst, limiting the generalizability of current findings, even though the sample represents the organizations population, they were female. Secondly, the disadvantage of using a survey method is that it influence the willingness of individuals to respond accurately. Finally, the present study is clearly limited by the cross-section(a) nature of the research.DELIMITATION OF THE STUDYThis study focused only on married female secondary school teachers in the District of Hul u Langat in Selangor. This sample size was limited to only those who were in one district in one state. The researcher controlled the influence of participants marital status, number of children, working experience on WFC and level of institutions (secondary schools) that were expected to have high significant levels of conflict between work and family roles. The presence of children inside the home has been identified as a factor that affects conflict. Regarding the influence children have on work and family conflict, research has suggested that FWC and WFC are exacerbated by the number of children living within the home (Kinnunen Mauno, 1998 Voydanoff, 1988). This research also included in-depth unrestricted interviews to further explore the mechanisms that explain teachers WFC.DEFINITION OF THE OPERATIONAL KEY TERMSFor the purpose of this study, the key monetary value or constructs under the study are operationally defined as follow, with some elaborations on the definitions.W ork-Family ConflictWork-family conflict has been defined as a form of inter-role conflict in which pressures from work and family roles are incompatible (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985). For instance, when one devotes extra time and energy into one role, the other role is compromised. This study defines work-family conflict check to Netemeyer et al., (1996, p. 401) as a form of inter-role conflict in which the general demands of, time devoted to and strain created by the job interfere with performing family-related responsibilities.Work-Family Conflict EfficacyWork-family conflict efficacy is defined as an individuals beliefs in her or his ability to manage work-family and family-work conflict (Cinamon, 2003). In this study, work-family conflict efficacy refers to the knowledges of self-efficacy to manage work-family conflict and family-work conflict.Self-efficacy was theoretically defined in this study as self-regulatory efficacy, which is a specific type of perceived self-efficacy. Th e given progression in this study was Bandura (1997) defined a specific type of self-efficacy, self-regulatory efficacy, as the ability to guide and affect oneself to get things done that one knows how to do. The issue is not whether one can do them occasionally but whether one has the efficacy to get oneself to do them regularly in the face of varied dissuading (p.43).Religious CopingVarious definitions of coping have been proposed, including coping as a psychoanalytic process as a personal trait, style or disposition as a description of situationally specific strategies and as a process. In this study, coping in the context of religious approach is used. Thus, religious coping is defined as dealing with life effectively within the search for significance towards the sacred (Pargament, 1997). Religious coping includes a positive and negative religious/spiritual coping factor that reflects benevolent religious involvement in the search for significance and a negative factor that reflects religious struggle in coping.Well-beingKathryn Dianne (2009) argued that employee well-being consists of subjective well-being (life satisfaction and dispositional affect), workplace well-being (job satisfaction and work-related affect) and psychological well-being (self acceptance, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, autonomy, purpose in life and personal growth). In this study well-being refers to symptoms of psychological distress and job-family dissatisfaction.Symptoms of psychological distressGoldberg (1978) has identified symptoms of psychological distress through somatic and affective of distress.Job-Family DissatisfactionJob-family dissatisfaction refers to a respondents perception of negative spillover from his or her work to family (Small Riley, 1990), for example the negative impact of a respondents work demands or stressors on her marital and parental roles.MediatorMediators are intervening variables, which could explain why relationships ex ist. Mediation exists when an exogenous construct indirectly influences an endogenous construct via a third variable or construct. That is, the effect of a third variable or construct (mediator) intervenes between two other related constructs. In this study, work-family conflict functions as a mediator.SUMMARYChapter one is organized into nine sections. The first section presents the background of the study, followed by the statement of problem and purpose of the study. To achieve the purpose of the study, several research questions have been formulated and explained more on the conceptual framework part, a set of relationships (work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping, work-family conflict and well-being) in a raceway diagram is depicted. Sixth, on the basis of