An assessment of stress factors on engineering academics in a regional context
Paper
Paper/Presentation Title | An assessment of stress factors on engineering academics in a regional context |
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Presentation Type | Paper |
Authors | Goh, Steven (Author), Zhou, Hong (Author), Bullen, Frank (Author) and Davey, Kenneth (Author) |
Editors | Leblanc, Richard and Sobel, Ann |
Journal or Proceedings Title | Proceedings of the 42nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2012) |
Number of Pages | 6 |
Year | 2012 |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISBN | 9781467313513 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2012.6462228 |
Web Address (URL) of Paper | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6462228 |
Web Address (URL) of Conference Proceedings | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/6454261/proceeding |
Conference/Event | 42nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2012): Soaring to New Heights in Engineering Education |
Event Details | Rank A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A |
Event Details | 42nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2012): Soaring to New Heights in Engineering Education Parent ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference Event Date 03 to end of 06 Oct 2012 Event Location Seattle, United States |
Abstract | The Australian higher education sector has accepted that increasing work-related stresses can have a negative impact on the quality and productivity of academic life. Workplace stresses can have significant financial impact both on university budgets and the overall economy due to poor decision-making, health issues and accidents resulting from illness. Engineering academics that teach and/or research within higher education institutions have been reported anecdotally to have a high prevalence of stress. The actual (self-perceived) level however has been largely unquantified. The research reported in this paper was conducted to assess self-perceived stress levels and identify the stress factors within a cohort of engineering academics at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), a small regionally based Australian university renowned for its distance education. The questionnaire was applied using a mix of validated and non-validated survey instruments and incorporated a set of questions previously applied at the University of Adelaide (UoA). Findings from USQ are broadly in line with those independently reported elsewhere for Australia and the UK, with some minor exceptions. In summary the USQ project indicates that engineering academics have higher perceived stress levels than the validated health threshold, with significant variation based on age, academic type (teaching-research), and for staff with English as a second language. The results from both universities also indicated that there are significant stress contributors related to the pressure to obtain grants and to publish and to the (low) resultant levels of recognition from employers for any success. More specific to distance education providers (such as USQ), there are stress contributors related to servicing and dealing with the external mode of course design, delivery and lecture preparation. |
Keywords | work-related stress; workplace practices; faculty development; academic development |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 350710. Organisational behaviour |
390303. Higher education | |
350505. Occupational and workplace health and safety | |
409999. Other engineering not elsewhere classified | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering |
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering | |
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying | |
University of Adelaide | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q1v56/an-assessment-of-stress-factors-on-engineering-academics-in-a-regional-context
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