Work engagement, job satisfaction, general health, and mental health among faculty members at an Argentinian public university

Being an academic faculty member has become a highly stressful occupation, making it necessary to examine the relevance of psychological and organizational conditions associated with higher levels of physical and mental health in the university setting. We aimed, on the one hand, to measure the levels of work engagement, job satisfaction, physical health, and mental health in a sample of Argentinian scholars and, on the other hand, to analyze the influence of a set of demographics (i.e. age, gender, and level of education), terms of employment (i.e. hierarchy, hours worked per week, and tenure), work engagement, and job satisfaction on reported levels of physical and mental health. We administered an online survey that included six self-report scales to a sample of 86 academics from an Argentinian university. Over one third of participants reported feeling stressed out, tired, emotionally exhausted, experienced backaches, having sleep difficulties, headaches, eyestrain, and/or fatigue in the previous 30-day period. Results also revealed that those academics who were highly engaged or felt highly satisfied with their jobs tended to report better physical and mental health. Argentinian universities should improve their working conditions in order to boost their faculty members'work engagement and job satisfaction, as both phenomena appear to be vital for maintaining adequate levels of physical and mental health in the workplace(AU)