ABSTRACT

Academic work environments are becoming progressively more digitalised and focused on performativity and commodification, increasing the potential to force an unwanted merge of the boundary between work and non-work domains. This study aimed to explore academic wellbeing and the role played by factors related to work-life merge. Data were collected from a cross sectional survey of 605 Australian and 313 UK academics, who were found to have a short version Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score of 21.47 ± 4.11 and 21.35 ± 4 respectively, which is significantly below population norms. Australian men’s scores were significantly lower than Australian women (20.7 ± .31, p = .007). Job strain was evidenced by excessive work hours, high levels of intrusive work-related thoughts, reduced physical activity and a self-perception that work-life merge adversely affected psychological and physical health, and mostly only occurred to meet work demands. Action by government education and university leaders is urgently required to identify policy and management practices that are contributing to this ongoing health concern. The establishment of national and university based advisory groups and consideration of a data warehouse to curate a public dataset on the wellbeing of staff within universities could assist in ensuring the outcomes of any action are continually assessed.

摘要

学术工作环境正变得越来越数字化，并专注于表现性和商品化，这增加了迫使工作和非工作领域之间不必要的边界合并的可能性。本研究旨在探讨学术福祉以及与工作与生活融合相关的因素所起的作用。数据来自对 605 名澳大利亚学者和 313 名英国学者的横断面调查，发现他们的简短版 Warwick-Edinburgh 心理健康评分分别为 21.47 ± 4.11 和 21.35 ± 4，明显低于人口标准。澳大利亚男性的得分明显低于澳大利亚女性 (20.7 ± .31, p = .007）。工作压力表现为工作时间过长、与工作相关的想法过多、体力活动减少以及自我认知工作与生活融合对心理和身体健康产生不利影响，而且大多只是为了满足工作需求。迫切需要政府教育和大学领导采取行动，以确定导致这一持续健康问题的政策和管理实践。建立以国家和大学为基础的咨询小组并考虑建立一个数据仓库来管理关于大学内员工福利的公共数据集，可以帮助确保任何行动的结果得到持续评估。