Work-related psychological health among Church of England clergywomen : individual differences and psychological type

Abstract

Using the balanced affect model of work-related psychological health proposed and measured by the Francis Burnout Inventory, this paper set out to assess the work-related psychological health of a sample of 874 stipendiary parochial clergywomen working within the Church of England to examine the association between work-related psychological health and psychological type as assessed by the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data demonstrate that these clergywomen experience a high level of emotional exhaustion often off-set by a high level of satisfaction in ministry, but that these levels are roughly consistent with those reported by clergymen and clergywomen working in other cultural and denominational contexts. In terms of psychological type theory, the data demonstrate that extraverts and feelers enjoy a better level of work-related psychological health in comparison with introverts and thinkers. This finding is consistent with the view that introverted thinking clergywomen may find themselves operating in ministry for long periods with their less preferred orientation of extraversion and their less preferred judging function of feeling. Suggestions are offered to help introverted and thinking clergy to deal more effectively with the stresses of ministry