Preference awareness education as stress management training for academic staff

This paper describes a response directed stress management intervention (SMI) in the form of a Jungian based preference awareness education (PAE). It uses the Insights System of personality types to increase awareness of behaviour and communication preferences of self and different others. Eighteen self-recruited academic employees participated for 7 weeks and received feedback about work preferences and personality type. The aim was to reduce perceptions of stress and interpersonal stress and to increase feelings of job satisfaction and interpersonal satisfaction. The data were analysed using two-tailed t-tests. No significant findings were observed for the total sample after training, however, interesting results were found for certain sub-sample groups. Extravert-thinking types, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.018), and participants suffering high stress/interpersonal stress pre-PAE, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.010-0.018). Participants suffering low job/interpersonal satisfaction pre-PAE, reported increased job satisfaction (p > 0.015-0.016). These results suggest that individuals who report high levels of stress and dissatisfaction are most likely to benefit from this type of intervention. Future PAE research might: (a) use pilot studies to meet the intervention preferences of employees that are reluctant to participate in SMIs; (b) include a wait-list control group; use: (c) a follow up education/measures; (d) and organizational level (stressor directed) SMIs at the same time as response directed initiatives. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.