Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in Postmodern Practical Psychology

The article talks about the personality-oriented approach of postmodern practical psychology to counseling a crisis client. Coping strategies for overcoming a life crisis by a person at the cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels are analyzed. Based on the consideration of practical work with crisis clients, algorithms for overcoming a crisis situation in the form of stages and phases of its experience are highlighted. The important role of neuropsychological correction at the first stage of work with the client is emphasized. Theoretical and methodological provisions of postmodern psychotherapy and practical psychology on the features of psychological support of a crisis client, taking into account his personal resource. The variability of the personality as one of its fundamental properties and the psychological mechanism providing a flexible choice of coping strategies, process of adaptation to conditions of crisis situation are considered. It is revealed that in the conditions of overcoming the life crisis there are personal transformations as expression and development of specific personal characteristics and properties. The model of overcoming a life crisis situation by an individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology is presented. In the presented author’s model of overcoming the personal crisis the postmodernist, personality-oriented and phenomenological approaches are applied.

DRIVERS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN APPROACHES TO MODERN TEACHING OF STUDENTS

The problem statement is connected with the paradoxical nature of modern academic reflection regarding the prospects not only for the development, but also for the survival of universities. Adherents of the alarmist approach justify the strengthening of the trend of academic capitalism, which represents a landslide increasing commercialization of all types of university activities, with a reduction in socio-humanitarian areas and the transition to an entrepreneurial post-academic university culture. Accordingly, the classical format of the university is declared to be dying, and the values of traditional academic culture are blurred and even ruined. Clarification and correction of concepts were required due to the fact, that digitalization is often considered as a process, and digital transformation is considered as the completion of the path of strategic and operational transformations that ensure competitiveness in the modern world. The authors insist that digital transformation is also procedural, so it would be more correct to designate the essence of these changes in modern higher education as an institutional purposeful transition to the latest technologies that provide opportunities for a variety of formats and personalization of the educational process. Clarification and expansion of the main drivers of digital transformation in modern higher education, in turn, indicate that the process of digital transformation, presenting intermediate results of achieving goals, will also remain open. The article presents an analysis of digital transformation in the practices of interaction between teachers and students, with an emphasis on the fact that the main goal of the teacher is his creative support, and the main goal of the student is the transition from the necessary development of modern specifics of the profession to the formation of a broader personal resource potential in the conditions of rapidly increasing changes. It is also important that digital transformation requires not only the consolidation of educational needs and skills during the life of university graduates, but also, first of all, their teachers. The authors note the discursiveness of the problem of the advantages and negatives of the digital educational environment, arguing that the understanding of modern students is focused on the need to implement early and systemic transformational changes in teaching and learning in the new digital landscape. The article concludes with updated conclusions and clarifies operational actions that contribute to achieving the goals of the transition to digital universities.

Health status as a personal resource: Analyzing associations between perceived illness severity, burnout, and work engagement amongst employees with autoimmune diseases

Epidemiological data suggest that the prevalence of autoimmune diseases is increasing. Although evidence implies that people with chronic illnesses experience higher levels of burnout, there are few available insights for developing preventative interventions. This paper builds on the job-demands resources model (JD-R) to investigate the association between impaired health, burnout, and work engagement. In two longitudinal studies, we test the effects of job demands and resources among employed people with autoimmune diseases and identify individual health status as a personal resource within the JD-R model to investigate the incremental effects of autoimmune illness severity on burnout. Study 1 investigated the effects of illness severity amongst 87 employees with inflammatory bowel diseases. Controlling for job characteristics, perceived illness severity was the strongest predictor of e burnout and predicted the vigor subdimension of work engagement. In study 2, we analyzed the effects of illness severity amongst 129 employees with multiple sclerosis and found similar effects of illness severity on both outcomes. Our studies provide important insights for employees with chronic illnesses and the organizations in which they work and give indications for theory development, future research, and the development of interventions.

Technostressors – a boon or bane? Toward an integrative conceptual model

Purpose This paper aims to highlight the positive and negative effects of technostressors on employee attitudes using psychological need satisfaction as an explanatory mechanism and mindfulness as an individual resource, thereby developing an integrative conceptual model. Design/methodology/approach A narrative literature review was performed in the technostress, job demands-resources and mindfulness literature to develop the propositions of the integrative conceptual model. Findings This paper posits psychological need satisfaction as a mediator in the process by which technostressors impact important employee outcomes. It also proposes mindfulness as a personal resource that helps alleviate technostressor induced burnout and foster work engagement. Research limitations/implications The proposed integrative conceptual framework provides some useful directions for future empirical research on this topic of growing importance. Practical implications Based on the findings of this paper, managers can devise and implement a technostressor-specific mitigation strategy to cope with information and communication technology–induced work demands. They can also introduce mindfulness-based programs to support positive outcomes when technostressors are present. Originality/value This paper is the first to theoretically delineate specific characteristics of technostressors as challenge and hindrance demands and makes interdisciplinary contributions by extending the role of psychological mechanisms such as psychological need satisfaction and personal resources such as mindfulness in work-related technology use research.

Predictors of Custodial Grandparents’ Perceived Barriers to the Use of Services

Getting timely access to help, information, and a variety of services is paramount among the challenges of raising a grandchild, and grandparents face a variety of internal and external barriers in getting such help. The present pilot exploratory study focused on caregiving-related and personal resource variables best predicting grandparent caregivers’ perceptions of barriers to receiving services. Fifty-two grandparents (M age = 59.1) raising their grandchildren completed measures assessing caregiver strain, social support, resilience, self-care, psychosocial adequacy, health, depression, and grandchild relationship quality. They also completed measures of the extent to which they faced personal and caregiving-related difficulties giving rise to the need for services (e.g. health, grandchild well-being, support from others) as well as the extent to which they had experienced barriers to service (health/financial limitations, isolation, transportation, respite care, lack of knowledge of services) in the past 3 months. Correlations (p < .05) suggested that psychosocial adequacy (r = -.32), depression (r = .27), caregiver strain (r = .42) and difficulties (r = .48) were all related to greater perceived barriers. Regression analyses (F7, 40 = 2.81, p < .02) indicated that caregiver strain (Beta = .33, p < .05) and difficulties giving rise to the need for services (Beta = .32, p < .04) emerged as most salient in predicting barriers. These findings underscore the fact that personal, caregiving-related, and interpersonal factors exacerbate the barriers associated with grandparents’ accessing needed services and reinforce such factors’ impact on grandparents as targets for overcoming impediments to accessing services among them.

Scientist Warning on Why you Should Consume Less; Even if Wider Society Doesn’t

Overconsumption presents a major obstacle to social and environmental sustainability. Systemic social, legal, and economic strategies are absolutely necessary, but individuals are still accountable for their lifestyle choices and associated environmental footprints. Anti-consumption (rejection, reduction, reclamation) has its limitations, but could contribute to pro-environmental change, helping resolve biodiversity and climate crises. Regardless of societal consumption patterns, individuals can still make great gains in well-being and personal development by upholding their environmental and social values, minimizing personal resource consumption. Challenging the cultural norms of overconsumption requires individuals to employ mental fortitude in attempts to act justly toward the entire community of life. As a species, given our rational capabilities and ability to meet our basic needs, we are highly capable of bettering ourselves and our environment.

Psychological Capital and Family Satisfaction among Employees: Do Occupational Stressors Moderate the Relationship?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created more occupational stressors, particularly work–family interface issues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating role of occupational stressors in the relationship between a personal resource (psychological capital) and family satisfaction. A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 787 employees (367 males, 420 females) from the Greater Bay Area of China between October and November 2020. Participants completed an online survey which included the Chinese version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, measures of occupational stressors from the Work Stress Management DIY Kit and a measure of family satisfaction. Latent moderated structural equation modeling revealed that family satisfaction was positively associated with psychological capital and negatively associated with occupational stressors. Furthermore, occupational stressors weakened the positive association between psychological capital and family satisfaction. These findings provided empirical evidence for the work–home resources model and may suggest that it would be beneficial to boost psychological capital and reduce occupational stressors of employees.

The Bright and Dark Sides of Resources for Cross-Role Interrupting Behaviors and Work–Family Conflict: Preliminary Multigroup Findings on Remote and Traditional Working

Using boundary management and conservation of resources theories, we examined how job resources (i.e., job autonomy and goal-oriented leadership) and a work-related personal resource (i.e., personal initiative at work) relate to cross-role interrupting behaviors—i.e., interrupting the work (or non-work) role to attend to competing non-work (or work) demands—and how, in turn, they correlate with work–family conflict. Furthermore, we examined differences in the proposed nomological network between workers adopting traditional and remote ways of working. Using a multigroup structural equation modelling approach on a sample of 968 employees from an Italian telecommunications company, we found that: (a) job autonomy was positively related to both work interrupting non-work behaviors and to non-work interrupting work behaviors, (b) goal-oriented leadership was negatively related to non-work interrupting work behaviors, (c) personal initiative at work was positively related to work interrupting non-work behaviors and, finally, (d) cross-role interrupting behaviors were positively related to work–family conflict. Additionally, our findings revealed previously undocumented results; (a) mediating patterns in how resources relate, through cross-role interrupting behaviors, to work–family conflict and (b) non-invariant associations among job autonomy, cross-role interrupting behaviors and work–family conflict across traditional and remote workers. The limitations and theoretical and practical implications of the present study are discussed.

Walking the Talk of Social Equity? Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Decisionmaking About the Provision of Personal Resources

While public administration scholars argue that core values of social equity are exceedingly important in service provision, less is known of how these values are practised on the frontline in the contemporary public administration. Research points to a dual trend: together with practices aimed at increasing clients’ wellbeing, public service workers’ decisions about allocating public resources are guided by moral perceptions of worthiness, leaving behind the most weakened populations. The current study aims to decipher this duality, analyzing street-level bureaucrats’ decisionmaking about providing personal resources to low-income clients, in order to examine whether the pursuit of social equity is manifested in informal practices. Drawing on indepth qualitative interviews of social service providers in Israel, we found that decisionmaking about personal resource provision is grounded in two distinct sets of values. Alongside a pattern of providing resources to deserving clients, street-level bureaucrats also provide them to clients typically considered undeserving. These latter practices are aimed at decreasing social inequality, demonstrating that social service providers often walk the talk of social equity.