Associations between Australian early childhood educators’ mental health and working conditions: A cross-sectional study Corr, Lara, LaMontagne, Anthony D., Cook, Kay, Waters, Elizabeth and Davis, Elise 2015, Associations between Australian early childhood educators’ mental health and working conditions: A cross-sectional study, Australasian journal of early childhood, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 69-78. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads lamontagne-associationsbetween-2015.pdf Published version application/pdf 1.59MB 2772 Title Associations between Australian early childhood educators’ mental health and working conditions: A cross-sectional study Author(s) Corr, Lara LaMontagne, Anthony D. orcid.org/0000-0002-5811-5906 Cook, Kay Waters, Elizabeth Davis, Elise Journal name Australasian journal of early childhood Volume number 40 Issue number 3 Start page 69 End page 78 Total pages 10 Publisher Early Childhood Australia Inc. Place of publication Watson, ACT Publication date 2015-01-01 ISSN 1836-9391 1839-5961 Keyword(s) Social Sciences Education & Educational Research EFFORT-REWARD IMBALANCE FAMILY DAY-CARE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS SCALE SUPPORT STRESS POPULATION DEPRESSION PREVALENCE PREDICTORS Summary © 2015, Early Childhood Australia Inc. All rights reserved. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION and care quality relies on educator capacity; however, working conditions may compromise educators’ mental health. This study examines associations between family day care (FDC) educators’ mental health and working conditions to inform workplace mental health promotion. Three hundred and sixty-six FDC educators completed an online or written survey. In addition to this, regression analyses were used to examine relationships between educator mental health and working conditions. Although many FDC educators had low psychological distress and moderate mental wellbeing, 41.7 per cent reported psychological distress. Most educators’ ‘efforts’ and ‘rewards’ were unbalanced (effort–reward imbalance [ERI] ratio) and showed high ‘overcommitment’ to work. Effort and overcommitment were significantly related to increased odds of psychological distress, whereas social support was associated with higher mental wellbeing. The ERI ratio had the strongest associations with educator psychological distress and mental wellbeing. As many working conditions associated with educator mental health are modifiable, this study highlights opportunities for workplace mental health promotion in FDC. Language eng Field of Research 1301 Education Systems 1303 Specialist Studies In Education 1701 Psychology Socio Economic Objective 920410 Mental Health HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30079978 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Health and Social Development Open Access Collection   Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 01 Dec 2015, 14:54:41 EST Wed, 02 Dec 2015, 04:01:55 EST Wed, 13 Jan 2016, 05:13:52 EST Tue, 23 Feb 2016, 12:49:47 EST Tue, 23 Feb 2016, 13:01:32 EST Tue, 23 Feb 2016, 13:03:05 EST Wed, 06 Dec 2017, 06:17:07 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 17:40:16 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 13 times in TR Web of Science Cited 13 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 3096 Abstract Views, 2774 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 01 Dec 2015, 14:54:41 EST