The moderating effect of gratitude on the relationship between work stressors and mental health among crisis line volunteers

Crisis Line Volunteers have been shown to be at an increased risk of being exposed to several work stressors, which can have a negative effect on their mental health. Objective: This study aims at investigating the effect of two work stressors, emotional strain and secondary stress, on (positive) mental well-being and on distress in Dutch crisis line volunteers. It is studied whether gratitude, as a personal resource is moderating these effects. Method: 563 crisis line volunteers of three Dutch crisis lines participated in this online survey study. The questionnaires used were the “Mental Health Continuum Short-Form” for measuring well-being, “The four-dimensional symptom questionnaire” (4DKL) for distress, the subscale “Secondary Stress” of the “ProQol”, “Questionnaire Experience and Work Evaluation” (VBBA) for measuring emotional strain, and the GQ6-NL as a measure of gratitude. Correlation and moderation analyses were conducted with well-being and distress as the dependent variable, emotional strain and secondary stress as the independent variable and the moderator variable gratitude. Results: 82.1% of crisis line volunteers were shown to experience low levels of distress and an increased positive well-being (M=3.7, SD=.6). Emotional strain was not at an increased level in contrast to secondary stress. Gratitude was shown to moderate the effect of secondary stress on positive well-being (R2=.16; p<.001). A significant moderation effect of gratitude was found on the relation of secondary stress and distress (R2=.14; p<.001). Conclusion: The study showed that Dutch crisis line volunteers are not at risk of higher levels of distress and even experience high levels of positive well-being. Gratitude does not act as a buffer in the moderation effect, but rather enhances the negative effects on well-being and distress from secondary stress as gratitude levels increase.