Date of Award
5-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
Psychology
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Kenneth Sumner
Committee Member
Jennifer D. Bragger
Committee Member
Kate B. Nooner
Abstract
Expressive Writing interventions have been widely used in clinical and medical settings. It has been shown that by exploring thoughts and feelings associated with stressful events can help individuals benefit in terms of reducing stress and improving health and psychological well-being. The present study examines the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention among expatriates from Asia working in Information Technology industry in United States. A pre-post test design was applied. The study was conducted over 12 weeks, in which participants (N=30) completed pre assessment, and then were randomly assigned to different writing conditions Thoughts and Emotions condition (focused on thinking processes and feeling aspects) and Thoughts, Emotions and Social Support condition (focused on thoughts and feeling along with emphasis on support systems during a stressful event) in which they wrote for 3 consecutive days and this was followed by a post assessment. Post intervention, participants reported significant benefits of expressive writing through self report measures of stress, higher levels of job satisfaction & improved health and well-being. Interestingly, the study did not report any significant improvement on the social support variable, but noted a significant improvement in the social support satisfaction levels. Finally, the study also did not report any significant difference between the two writing conditions. The findings from this study gives insight into the use and benefits of EW intervention in workplace setting and suggest that there is tremendous potential in exploring the benefits of expressive writing in other sphere of workplace.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Gai, Sheetal R., "Impact of Expressive Writing about Workplace Events : Stress, Job Satisfaction and Well-Being" (2011). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 849.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/849