Abstract
Introduction: Recent studies suggest that compassion, particularly self-compassion, is often perceived as contrary to effective leadership and organizational success, that self-compassion, which impacts emotion regulation through the acceptance of negative emotions, may be an adaptive strategy for managing stress and benefit for resilience at work, and that self-compassion is associated with happiness and inversely related to anxiety and depression. This can be taken together with the importance of job-related affective well-being, where low LPLA (Low Pleasurable Low Arousal emotions) and high LPHA (Low Pleasurable High Arousal emotions) can correlate to depression, anxiety, and stress.
The following self-report questionnaires were used: the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF), the Job-Related Affective Well-Being scale (JAWS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS 10), the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-10).
The aims of this case series are to assess these components in six senior managers of human resources or organizational development, to understand their interconnections, and to compare the results with previous studies.
Results and discussion: The six cases’ configurations of scores (age 46-67, 4 female, 2 male) for self-compassion, job-related wellbeing, perceived stress, happiness, depression/anxiety symptoms, vary widely. Five out of six cases in this case study have higher levels of perceived stress than the norms established by previous research. The youngest among the cases is case 5 and exhibits the highest stress levels, the highest depression/anxiety levels, and a high self-compassion level simultaneously. One case has severe depression/anxiety levels, and two cases have moderate levels of depression/anxiety. Four out of six cases have high levels of self-compassion. All six cases exhibit strong negative emotional reactions to their job and level of overall job-related affective well-being is low.
The six cases in this study show the same trends outlined in the previous research: (1) self-compassion is associated with happiness and (2) self-compassion is inversely related to anxiety and depression, (3) anxiety and depression are inversely related to happiness,(4) perceived stress is negatively correlated with self-compassion (in turn that self-compassion could protect against stress, and (5) low LPLA and high LPHA levels corelate to depression, anxiety, and stress.
Conclusion: Timely awareness among managers of their levels of self-compassion, job-related well-being, perceived stress, and symptoms of depression and anxiety can be valuable in preventing the escalation of stress and the deterioration of mental health. By recognizing and addressing these factors early, managers may mitigate negative emotional outcomes, thereby fostering a healthier work environment and improving overall job satisfaction and performance.
Keywords
Senior managers, Job-related affective well-being, Self-compassion, Perceived stress, Subjective happiness, Depression, Anxiety
Introduction
Recent studies suggest that compassion, particularly self-compassion, is often perceived as contrary to effective leadership and organizational success [1], that self-compassion, which impacts emotion regulation through the acceptance of negative emotions, may be an adaptive strategy for managing stress [2] and benefit for resilience at work, that self-compassion is associated with happiness [3] and inversely related to anxiety and depression [4]. This can be taken together with the importance of job-related affective well-being, where low LPLA (Low pleasurable Low arousal emotions) and high LPHA (Low pleasurable High arousal emotions) can corelate to depression, anxiety, and stress [5].
The aims of this case series are to assess these components in six senior managers of human resources or organizational development, to understand their interconnections, and to compare the results with previous studies.
Methods
An anonymous and voluntary online survey was conducted in the spring of 2022 (April - June).
The following self-report-type questionnaires were used:
The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF)
According to scale developers [3] the average total score mean is 2,94. A Higher score than such representing higher than average levels of self-compassion. Self-compassion entails: (a) being kind and understanding toward oneself in times of pain or failure, (b) perceiving one's own suffering as part of a larger human experience, and (c) holding painful feelings and thoughts in mindful awareness [6].
The Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JAWS) is used to investigate affective responses to work stressors [7]. High scores in the JAWS represent a height level of overall job-related affective wellbeing [7].
Four different categories of emotions stats are categories are used showed [7]:
“HPHA (High Pleasurable-High Arousal): energetic, excited, ecstatic, enthusiastic, inspired,
HPLA (High Pleasurable-Low arousal): at-ease, calm, content, satisfied, relaxed.
LPHA (Low Pleasurable-High arousal): angry, anxious, disgusted, frightened, furious,
LPLA (Low Pleasurable-Low arousal): bored, depressed, discouraged, gloomy, fatigued.
High scores in JAWS represent a high level of overall job-related affective wellbeing.
HPHA and HPLA are classified as positive emotions and LPHA and LPLA as negative emotions.”
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) [8]
It is a popular tool for measuring psychological stress. It is a self-reported questionnaire that was designed to measure the degree to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful [8].
Scale norms [9]: 35-44 years old (mean 16,38), 45-54 years old (mean 16,94), and 55-64 years old (mean 14,5). Higher scores representing higher levels of stress [9].
The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS)
According to Lyubomirsky and Lepper [10], a happiness score that is lower than 5,6 means that the person is less happy than the average person and according to Szabo [11], the main values obtained range between 4.02 and to 5.62 across several international samples.
The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-10)
Overall scores can be classified into three groups: 1) score 6 or less: pertaining to medium/subclinical depression/anxiety, 2) score 7-12 to moderate and 3) score 13 or more indicating severe depression/anxiety [12].
The questionnaires took approximately 15 minutes to complete. Answers and personal data were kept completely confidential, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
An online survey was used to gather information from subjects. The total questionnaire included 108 questions. The link to the online survey was shared on a social network.
By opening the link to the questionnaire page, after an introduction/information page, the respondents gave their consent to participate by filling out the questionnaire. Participants were informed that they have the right to skip or not answer any/all the questions. This study was conducted completely voluntarily both by the questionee and from the side of the researcher.
Their characteristics are described in the Results section.
Subjects
In total, 17 participants were surveyed in anonymous and voluntary online survey that was conducted in the spring of 2022 (April - June). They were all individuals with high levels of academic education, physicians, or managers. All subjects who began the survey completed it except for a few missing values. From the 17 participants, 6 were managers and have now been chosen for this case series study. The inclusion criteria for this 6-case series were the occupation of the participants - senior managers of human resources or organizational development. Their identity was entirely unknown to the researchers because the survey was anonymous and conducted online. Their characteristics are described in the Results section in Table 1.
Results
Sociodemographic data is shown in Table 1.
Case |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Age |
46-56 |
46-56 |
46-56 |
57-67 |
36-45 |
57-67 |
Gender |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Female |
Relationship |
Married |
Married |
Married |
Single |
Married |
Married |
Children |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Illness |
No |
Diabetes |
No |
Hypertension |
Hypertension |
Scleroderma |
Recreative activities |
Multiple x a week |
1x month |
Multiple x a week |
Multiple x a week |
Multiple x a week |
Multiple x a week |
Physical activities |
Multiple x a week |
1x month |
Multiple x a week |
Multiple x a week |
Multiple x a week |
Every day |
Satisfied with close friends |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Sleep/hours |
6-8 hours |
6-8 hours |
6-8 hours |
6-8 hours |
6-8 hours |
Less than 5 |
Traumatic experience in life |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Religion |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Results of self-reported questionnaires (total scores) are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Results of self-reported questionnaires for 6 cases.
Results of –
Cases 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 showed high levels of perceived stress.
The youngest among the cases is case 5 and exhibits the highest stress levels, the highest depression/anxiety levels, and a high self-compassion level simultaneously.
- Cases 1, 2, 3, and 4 have average happiness levels.
- Cases 1, 2, and 4 have high levels of self-compassion with low levels of depression/anxiety.
- Case 3 showed a low self-compassion level and a high level of depression/anxiety.
- Case 6 demonstrated a low happiness level, average self-compassion level, high depression/anxiety, and high perceived stress level.
- Cases 1, 2, 4, and 6 have lower HPHA, higher LPHA, and lower LPLA in comparison to previous research, together with lower total JAWS score compared with previous research.
- Cases 3 and 5 have higher HPHA compared with previous research but also higher LPHA and lower LPLA. HPHA and the total JAWS score are higher in comparison to other cases in this study.
- Cases 3 and 6 have high total JAWS scores.
- Cases 2 and 4 have higher levels of self-compassion and lower levels of perceived stress in comparison with other cases.
Discussion
The six cases’ configurations of scores (age 46-67, 4 female, 2 male) for job-related wellbeing, perceived stress, happiness, depression/anxiety symptoms, and self-compassion vary.
Job related affective well-being scale (JAWS) [7]
JAWS is used to investigate affective responses to work stressors [7]. It asks participants to indicate for each of 30 emotions (20 emotions in the short form) how often they have experienced them in the past 30 days [7].
High scores in JAWS represent a high level of overall job-related affective wellbeing.
4 different categories of emotions stats are showed [7]:
“HPHA (High Pleasurable-High arousal): energetic, excited, ecstatic, enthusiastic, inspired
HPLA (High Pleasurable-Low arousal): at-ease, calm, content, satisfied, relaxed
LPHA (Low Pleasurable-High arousal): angry, anxious, disgusted, frightened, furious
LPLA (Low Pleasurable-Low arousal): bored, depressed, discouraged, gloomy, fatigued
HPHA and HPLA are classified as positive emotions and LPHA and LPLA are classified as negative emotions.”
All six cases exhibit strong negative emotional reactions to their job and level of overall job-related affective well-being is low.
Cases 1, 2, 4, and 6 have lower HPHA, higher LPHA, and lower LPLA in comparison to previous research, together with lower total JAWS score compared with previous research. According to previous research [5], this combination would indicate that these cases are not satisfied with their job and have a lot of negative emotions regarding their job.
Cases 3 and 5 have higher HPHA compared with previous research but also higher LPHA and lower LPLA. HPHA and the total JAWS score are higher in comparison to other cases in this study. This combination would, according to previous research [5], mean that these cases are satisfied with their job, energetic, and excited, but not motivated enough.
For cases 3 and 6, total JAWS scores is high.
Low LPLA and high LPHA can corelate to depression, anxiety, and stress [5].
SHS [10]
- Cases 1, 2, 3, and 4 have average happiness levels.
- Case 6 demonstrated a low happiness level, average self-compassion level, high depression/anxiety, and high perceived stress level.
One previous research [13] showed that a happiness score that is lower than 5,6 means that the person in question is less happy than the average person.
Previous research also showed that the perception of whether one has had a happy life is driven by cultural expectations [13].
DASS 10 scale [12]
Cases 1, 2, and 4 have high levels of self-compassion with low levels of depression/anxiety.
- Case 3 showed a low self-compassion level and a high level of depression/anxiety.
- Case 6 demonstrated a low happiness level, average self-compassion level, high depression/anxiety, and high perceived stress level.
The youngest among the cases is case 5 and exhibits the highest depression/anxiety levels.
Some research showed that mindfulness is efficient in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and stress related disorders [14].
Cases 1, 3, 4, and 5 has physical activities multiple times a week and case 2 has only 1x month. Case 2 has low depression. Case 6 has physical activities every day and has high depression. Previous research has showed antidepressant mechanisms of physical activity [15], but this is not shown in our cases.
PSS 10
Cases 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 showed high levels of perceived stress. Case 5 is the youngest among the cases and has the highest stress levels, and simultaneously has the highest depression/anxiety level and a high self-compassion level. Also, case 5 has hypertension and case 6 has scleroderma.
Previous research has shown that the perception of stress may influence the pathogenesis of physical disease by causing negative affective states (e.g., feelings of anxiety and depression) [16], which then exert direct effects on physiological processes or behavioral patterns that influence disease risk [17].
Previous research is supporting stress as a risk factor in depression [18], cardiovascular disease [19] and autoimmune diseases [20]
Cases 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 showed high levels of perceived stress.
Five out of six cases in this case study have higher levels of perceived stress than the norms established by previous research [9]. The youngest among the cases is case 5 and exhibits the highest stress levels.
Cases 2 and 4 have higher levels of self-compassion and lower levels of perceived stress in comparison with other cases. Cases 2 and 4 are also men.
Previous research has shown relations of psychological stress with sex and that women reported more stress than did men. This result aligns with other studies indicating that female gender is associated with higher stress level [21] and rate their stressful life events as having a more negative impact than do men [22].
Previous research on stress among university students showed that programs aimed at reducing stress and at improving well-being should include experiential avoidance, self-compassion, and mindfulness as therapeutic targets [2].
SCS-SF
Self-compassion is a form of relating to oneself that involves responding to personal suffering with kindness, understanding and support [23].
According to the scale developers [3] average is:
Total Score: mean = 2.94, SD = 0.72
Self-Disparagement: mean = 3.23, SD = 1.01
Self-Care: mean = 3.11, SD = 0.76
Four out of six cases have high levels of self-compassion.
- Cases 1, 2, and 4 have high levels of self-compassion with low levels of depression/anxiety.
- Case 3 showed a low self-compassion level and a high level of depression/anxiety.
Cases 2 and 4 have higher levels of self-compassion and lower levels of perceived stress in comparison with other cases.
The youngest among the cases is case 5 and exhibits a high self-compassion level.
The six cases in this study reflect the same trends highlighted in previous research, showing that self-compassion is associated with happiness [3], self-compassion is inversely related to anxiety and depression [4], anxiety and depression are inversely related to happiness, and that perceived stress is negatively correlated with self-compassion (in turn that self-compassion could protect against stress [2].
It has also been known that self-compassion facilitates resilience against various forms of psychological distress by moderating reaction to negative events [24] and that self- compassionate individuals respond to personal weaknesses, failures, and challenges with fewer emotional overreactions, greater emotional coping skills, and more adaptive motivational orientations than less self-compassionate individuals [25].
Previous research has demonstrated that brief self-compassion training programs have a positive impact on life satisfaction [26].
Conclusion
Timely awareness among managers of their levels of self-compassion, job-related well-being, perceived stress, and symptoms of depression and anxiety can be valuable in preventing the escalation of stress and the deterioration of mental health. By recognizing and addressing these factors early, managers may mitigate negative emotional outcomes, thereby fostering a healthier work environment and improving overall job satisfaction and performance.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Lucija Gruber Zlatec, Roskilde University, International Bachelor in Global Humanities, Roskilde, Denmark for assistance with data processing, text translation, and graphical displaying, as well as for technical support during data gathering.
Conflict of Interest
None to declare.
This research was presented at 23 WPA World Congress of Psychiatry, Vienna 2023.
Ethics Statement
We declare that this research project and all procedures were executed in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the National Committee on Research Ethics, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Contributors
Ema Gruber: design of the study, literature searches and analyses, interpretation of data, manuscript writing-first draft, final version.
Sanja Martic Biocina: literature searches and analyses, interpretation of data, approval of the final version.
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