An attempt to create a scale for psychologists’ self-care (2) : An examination of the quality of stress and self-care of psychologists using the Psychologists’ Self-Care Scale

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of stress and effective self-care in psychological professions using the Japanese version of the Self-Care Assessment for Psychologists Japanese (SCAP-J), a psychological scale developed based on the Self-Care Assessment for Psychologists by Dorociak et al. (2017). A total of 1,381 participants, including 101 psychological professionals and 1,281 non-psychological professionals, were surveyed using the SCAP-J and a brief occupational stress questionnaire through an online survey. In the stress assessment, the t-test was used to analyze the differences in scores between the two groups, i.e., psychological professionals and non-psychological professionals. Significant differences were observed in all items except for “feelings of anxiety,” “loss of appetite,” “insomnia,” and “support from colleagues.” Psychological professionals scored higher in “psychological job burden (quantity),” “job control,” “support from superiors,” and “job and life satisfaction”while they scored lower in “fatigue” and “feelings of depression” compared to non-psychological professionals. Five factors were identified from the SCAP-J: “activities to enhance expertise,” “interpersonal relationships in the workplace,” “interpersonal relationships outside the workplace,” “self-monitoring,” and “control and relaxation.”The results generally aligned with the findings of Dorociak et al. (2017), and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for all 22 items was .91, indicating sufficient reliability. Significant correlations were also observed between the SCAP-J and expected stress indicators, confirming its validity and reliability. In addition, text mining identified meditation as a characteristic self-care practice for psychological professionals in comparison to non-psychological professionals.