English summaries

English summaries (03/2013)

Emmi Enlund, Mari Luokkanen & Taru Feldt

Teachers’ ethical strain and the contents of their ethical dilemmas

This study investigates teachers’ ethical strain, i.e., stress caused by ethical dilemmas, and the contents of these dilemmas. Two types of dilemmas were included: situations where the teacher does not know the correct course of action (type A dilemma), and situations where the teacher is, for some reason, forced to act against rules, norms or his/her own values (type B dilemma). The participants were 333 class, subject and special education teachers. The results showed that 76 % of the teachers faced type A dilemmas and 23 % of the teachers faced type B dilemmas at least once a month. Further, type A dilemmas caused some or considerably high ethical strain to 28 % of the teachers whereas type B dilemmas caused ethical strain to 34 % of the teachers. Type A dilemmas typically concerned problems in interaction with others, while type B dilemmas arose more often from conflicting values and difficulties in obeying the rules. Overall, the results suggest that teachers’ ethical strain should be decreased in schools by creating ethical guidelines and opportunities to practice and share ethically challenging situations.

Keywords: ethical strain, ethical dilemmas, stress, teachers


Maija Tirkkonen & Ulla Kinnunen

Recovery increases well-being at work

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of recovery experiences in increasing well-being at work during a rehabilitation intervention. Altogether 112 managers and experts from a variety of different jobs took part in the one-year long vocational medical rehabilitation (VOMR). Specifically, we examined whether recovery experiences – strategies promoting recovery (psychological detachment, relaxation and mastery) – mediated the effects of time pressure or job control on well-being. The results showed that psychological detachment fully mediated the effects of time pressure and partially mediated the effects of job control on need for recovery. Psychological detachment fully mediated also the effects of time pressure on work ability. On the other hand mastery fully mediated the effects of time pressure and partially mediated the effects of job control on work engagement. Altogether, the results suggest that it is possible to increase well-being at work via improving recovery experiences during off-job time.

Keywords: psychological detachment, mastery experiences, need for recovery, work ability, work engagement, time pressure, job control, intervention study