Friday, 16 July 2010

UWA Business School
Almost everyone has a story of workplace stress. For workers at one Canadian animal shelter, however, workplace stress is unrelenting. That's because they are forced to euthanise animals on an almost daily basis.

The stress might come with the territory, but it's causing animal shelter workers significant health problems and resulting in a high staff turnover.

In an attempt to reduce employee stress levels, Associate Professor Kerrie Unsworth, from The University of Western Australia Business School, along with Steven Rogelberg and Daniel Bonilla from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, decided to trial a new stress management technique.

Expressive writing involves spending 10 to 15 minutes each day writing about a stressful topic. Previous studies have shown that expressive writing can improve physical health, raise students' grades, and even help unemployed people return to the workforce faster.

Professor Unsworth and her colleagues hoped that supplying the animal shelter workers with a diary and instructions on reflective practice would allow them to find a cathartic release and thus gain confidence and greater control over their emotions.

‘It's cheap, easy to use, practical, can be implemented broadly and only needs pen and paper,' says Professor Unsworth. ‘There is a huge amount of literature on this. It does work, and has successfully been applied to GP visits and many other situations.'

Five animal shelter workers agreed to participate in the pilot study, and four of the five workers reaped significant benefits.

‘It helped me dissect it more in my head. After euthanising an animal I usually take a break, have a cigarette and think about it. I found that [in my writing] I was thinking about it in ways that were different from my break,' said one worker.

However, another participant found themself thinking about euthanasia in unproductive ways. ‘I found some entries got me more upset about certain cases of euthanasia. I would rather just focus on the happy side. So [I have] mixed feelings about it,' this worker said.

Most of the participants, however, agreed on the benefits. These included seeing euthanasia from other people's perspectives, separating their own emotions and feelings from those of their co-workers, and being able to vent without involving their family members.

Research commissioned by Medibank Private in 2007 found that stress-related absenteeism and presenteeism (where employees are unproductive despite being physically present) are costing the Australian economy $14.81 billion per year.

With the pilot study showing such positive results, Professor Unsworth suggests that stressful workplaces should provide employees with the materials and time to engage in expressive writing.

The results could benefit not only workers, but also our economy.

Media Reference
Heather Merritt
Director, External Relations
UWA Business School
T: +618 6488 8171
E: [email protected]

Verity Chia
Communications Officer
UWA Business School
E: [email protected]

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