Canal, Susan F (2014) Exploring Mindfulness with Well-Being and Psychological Climate in a Workplace. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Well-being has become the subject of much debate and research, most recently since the decline of the world economy due the Global Financial Crisis. There is global interest in nations measuring the well-being of citizens, and in Australia, trends show declining well-being generally and in the workplace. Mindfulness is a new-wave behaviour therapy that has been shown to improve well-being for individuals, including in the workplace. Psychological climate has been found to be an important antecedent to employee well-being, particularly to individual distress and job satisfaction. Employee’s perceptions of their work environment directly influence psychological functioning and satisfaction in their work. Enhancing well-being in the workplace is important to minimise psychological health risks, which impact the quality of life of individuals both at work and outside of work.
Study 1 explored the dimensions of psychological climate via principal components analysis, and four dimensions were found to exist with good internal consistency, and convergent validity with distress and job satisfaction measures. The dimensions established corresponded with four of the five dimensions confirmed by Parker et al. (2005), and included perceptions of reward and recognition, role stress, leadership characteristics, and job characteristics. Although these findings confirm the utility of the questionnaire and are supportive of previous findings, further replication is required with the addition of further questionnaire items to better measure breadth and depth of the organisational climate construct using a larger sample, and across various organisations, industries and locations.
Study 2 assessed the relationships between distress and job satisfaction with mindfulness skills, and the four dimensions of psychological climate via multiple regression, and found that mindfulness skills of acceptance without judgment and nonreactivity to internal experiences were significantly negatively associated with recent general levels of depression, anxiety and stress, whereas various psychological climate elements were significantly negatively associated with depression and stress, and positively associated with intrinsic job satisfaction. Study 3 found that mindful acceptance without judgment mediated the negative relationship between perceptions about role stress and job characteristics with recent general levels of depression and stress, however mindful non-reactivity to internal experiences did not. These findings were significant even in a small convenience sample, and lend support to the thesis that acceptance-based mindfulness interventions are important to relieve distress and improve well-being given the current Australian reports of ongoing decline in workplace wellbeing.
|
Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology, Counselling and Community (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2014) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Quinn |
| Qualification: | Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2025 02:43 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2025 02:43 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52195 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Archive Repository Staff Only |
