Investigating the roles of self-insight and rumination in self-reflection on successful and unsuccessful coping events to strengthen resilience in ministry workers

<p dir="ltr">Ministry workers have been identified as a population at risk of stress-related ill health and yet little work has investigated preventative programs aimed at strengthening their resilience (Adams et al., 2017; Sielaff et al., 2021). Growing evidence supports the effectiveness of self-reflective training approaches for the development of resilience; however, self-focused attention literature identifies inconsistencies that suggest that self-reflection does not have a direct relationship with resilient outcomes (Crane, Boga et al., 2019; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). The research presented in this thesis aims to test and refine self-reflection resilience training within the ministry context, and to understand the roles rumination, general self-insight, and coping self-insights play in strengthening psychological resilience.</p><p dir="ltr">The doctoral research presented covers two datasets and three papers to address current gaps in the literature. The first paper presents the results of a cross-sectional online survey of 277 Australian Protestant ministry workers. The study aimed to clarify the mechanisms associated with self-reflection by exploring the indirect relationship between self-reflection and mental health outcomes via self-insight and to test the role of rumination as a moderator of this mediated relationship. Structural equation modelling identified a pathway whereby self-insight mediated the relationship between adaptive self-reflection and resilience. Rumination moderated the relationship such that when ruminative thought was low, a positive relationship existed between adaptive self-reflection and resilience via self-insight but when rumination was high, adaptive self-reflection was negatively related to resilience via self-insight.</p><p dir="ltr">The second and third papers present data from a randomized controlled trial of self-reflection resilience training with 254 Australian ministry workers followed up over six months. This trial included three attention-matched conditions: (1) self-reflective writing focused on successful coping, (2) self-reflective writing focused on <i>un</i>successful coping or (3) written descriptions of stressor events alone. Results in Paper 2 demonstrated that self-reflective writing was more effective in enhancing perceived resilience than writing alone. Analyses also showed greater maintenance of beneficial effects in the successful self-reflection condition, compared to the unsuccessful condition. Embedded within the intervention trial, Paper 3 adopted a mixed-methods approach with data from 79 participants to explore specific coping self-insights triggered by self-reflection on successful and unsuccessful coping experiences and their effects on perceived resilience. Results suggested two pathways via coping self-insights for the strengthening of resilience: one highlighting current capability which appeared to reinforce resilient beliefs within a short timeframe to increase perceived resilience, and the other highlighting discrepancies or limitations that act as feedback that may initially diminish perceived resilience but that, over time, prompt action that refines and diversifies resilient capacities.</p><p dir="ltr">Overall, this thesis contributes to the literature by investigating the mechanisms associated with self-reflection resilience training when used with ministry workers. This research extends the current understanding of how systematic self-reflection can strengthen resilience by promoting self-insights (particularly for those who tend toward ruminative thought) that reinforce beliefs of coping capability, and refine, develop, and diversify resilient capacities in situations where discrepancies in coping behaviours are identified. Practically, this thesis provides evidence that self-reflection resilience training is beneficial to those in ministry roles and suggests that such programs can minimise the risk of stress-related ill-health within this population. More generally, this research extends current training practices and advances progress towards the objective of sustaining people and strengthening their ability to display resilience amid stressors.</p>