Perceived Work Ability for Employees with Mental Illness: The Roles of Symptom Severity, Anticipated Discrimination, and Internalized Stigma

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Bardwell, T. (2021). Perceived Work Ability for Employees with Mental Illness: The Roles of Symptom Severity, Anticipated Discrimination, and Internalized Stigma. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Working adults with mental illness must navigate stigma and impairment in the workplace, and these factors may affect their perceived ability to continue working in their current job. Using appraisal theory and the why try model, the current study tested for predictors (symptom severity and anticipated discrimination) of perceived work ability. Participants were recruited from Amazon’s MTurk to complete two self-report surveys, one week apart. I found that symptom severity and anticipated discrimination negatively predicted perceived work ability. Internalized stigma was not found to moderate these effects. Additionally, I found a bi-directional relationship between anticipated discrimination and symptom severity. Because direct effect hypotheses were built on the theoretical foundation of stress appraisal, a supplemental mediation analysis was included. Stress was found to partially mediate the relationships between symptom severity and perceived work ability. Results lay the groundwork for future research, including intervention studies designed to support the work ability of employees with mental illness.

Details
Author

Bardwell, Tarya

Title

Perceived Work Ability for Employees with Mental Illness: The Roles of Symptom Severity, Anticipated Discrimination, and Internalized Stigma

Physical Description

1 online resource (69 pages) : PDF

Date

2021

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Working adults with mental illness must navigate stigma and impairment in the workplace, and these factors may affect their perceived ability to continue working in their current job. Using appraisal theory and the why try model, the current study tested for predictors (symptom severity and anticipated discrimination) of perceived work ability. Participants were recruited from Amazon’s MTurk to complete two self-report surveys, one week apart. I found that symptom severity and anticipated discrimination negatively predicted perceived work ability. Internalized stigma was not found to moderate these effects. Additionally, I found a bi-directional relationship between anticipated discrimination and symptom severity. Because direct effect hypotheses were built on the theoretical foundation of stress appraisal, a supplemental mediation analysis was included. Stress was found to partially mediate the relationships between symptom severity and perceived work ability. Results lay the groundwork for future research, including intervention studies designed to support the work ability of employees with mental illness.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Psychology

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Anticipated Discrimination
Disability
Internalized Stigma
Mental Illness
Self-Stigma
Stress

Subject Area

Psychology Industrial/Organizational

Advisor(s)

McGonagle, Alyssa

Committee Members

Banks, George
Shanock, Linda

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2021.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Bardwell_uncc_0694N_12678

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2109