Date of Award

2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the importance of self- care for psychologists and other mental health professionals. However, the research on self-care is limited because of the lack of an empirically based, psychometrically sound measure of this construct. Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop a measure of personal and professional self-care. The preliminary phase involved the development of a self-care definition and a two-factor framework that divided self-care into personal and professional activities. Based on this definition and framework, self-care items were generated for expert evaluation. After incorporating the expert feedback, 52 potential self-care sale items were selected for use in the initial validation study. A total of 422 licensed psychologists in Illinois completed the Self-Care and Professional Well-Being Survey. This survey contained the 52 self-care items as well as other measures of personal and professional well-being. Contrary to expectations, a two-factor structure for self-care was not supported. Factor analysis reduced the self-care scale to 34-items representing eight factors: Life Balance, Professional Development, Cognitive Strategies, Daily Balance, Professional Support, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep. The validity analyses provided strong initial support for the validity of the first five factors listed above. However, the validity support for the physical self-care factors was not as strong. Based on factor analysis and validity data, a five-factor, 28-item “Professional Self-Care Scale” was established for validation and use in future research.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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