Work Stress and Professional Identity in Taiwanese Clinical Psychologist and the Effects on Psychological Distress, Turnover Intention, and Intention to Change Professions

臨床心理師的工作壓力、專業認同及其對心理困擾、離職意圖及轉業意圖之影響

張錚如(Cheng-Ju Chang)；湯豐誠(Feng-Cheng Tang)；黃淑玲(Shu-Ling Huang)

臨床心理師 ； 工作負荷 ； 專業認同 ； 心理健康 ； clinical psychologist ； workload ； professional identity ； mental health

中山醫學雜誌

24卷1期（2013 / 06 / 01）

37 - 47

英文

Purpose: The aims of the study were to survey work stress and professional identity in Taiwanese clinical psychologists and to explore their effects on psychological distress, turnover intention, and the intention to change professions.Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional research method. Data were collected online with a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of personal information, work stress scale, professional identify scale, and psychological distress scale. In addition, two yes/no style questions were used to assess participants' intentions of turnover and change professions, respectively. Results: A total of 139 participants were recruited in the study.Results showed that Taiwanese clinical psychologists had a moderate level of work stress. The main stressors were ”workload,” ”a lack of resources,” and ”organizational structure and processes.” The professional identity of participants was found to be at a high-intermediate level. Among the participants, 23% suffered from psychological distress, 34.5% reported an intention of turnover and 25.2% reported an intention to change professions. Logistic regression analyses showed that work stress had significant effects on psychological distress (OR=1.10, p＜.001) and turnover intention (OR=1.08, p＜.001). Professional identity had effects on psychological distress (OR=0.94, p＜.05), turnover intention (OR=0.94, p＜.05), and intention to change professions (OR=0.90, p＜.001).Conclusion: Work stress is an indicator for turnover intention but not for the intention to change professions. Professional identity is an important factor for working steadily in the field of clinical psychology (not quitting the present job and not changing professions). Further investigations into both the process and the predictors for professional identity in clinical psychologists are recommended.

Purpose: The aims of the study were to survey work stress and professional identity in Taiwanese clinical psychologists and to explore their effects on psychological distress, turnover intention, and the intention to change professions.Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional research method. Data were collected online with a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of personal information, work stress scale, professional identify scale, and psychological distress scale. In addition, two yes/no style questions were used to assess participants' intentions of turnover and change professions, respectively. Results: A total of 139 participants were recruited in the study.Results showed that Taiwanese clinical psychologists had a moderate level of work stress. The main stressors were ”workload,” ”a lack of resources,” and ”organizational structure and processes.” The professional identity of participants was found to be at a high-intermediate level. Among the participants, 23% suffered from psychological distress, 34.5% reported an intention of turnover and 25.2% reported an intention to change professions. Logistic regression analyses showed that work stress had significant effects on psychological distress (OR=1.10, p＜.001) and turnover intention (OR=1.08, p＜.001). Professional identity had effects on psychological distress (OR=0.94, p＜.05), turnover intention (OR=0.94, p＜.05), and intention to change professions (OR=0.90, p＜.001).Conclusion: Work stress is an indicator for turnover intention but not for the intention to change professions. Professional identity is an important factor for working steadily in the field of clinical psychology (not quitting the present job and not changing professions). Further investigations into both the process and the predictors for professional identity in clinical psychologists are recommended.

1. 李俊賢(2016)。探討醫事人員罹患大腸直腸癌盛行率以及併發憂鬱症之情況。義守大學醫務管理學系學位論文。2016。1-79。