Survivor mission: Do those who survive have a drive to thrive at work?

Lauren Eskreis-Winkler*, Elizabeth P. Shulman, Angela L. Duckworth

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Are helping professionals who have experienced the same types of struggles as their clients more engaged at work? In the current investigation, we examine this question in samples of police detectives (with and without a history of violent victimization) and mental health workers (with and without a history of mental illness). Our results indicate that police detectives who have experienced violent victimization and mental health professionals who have experienced the same mental illness as their clients do indeed exhibit greater work engagement than their colleagues who lack these parallel life experiences. The link between a professional's firsthand experience of his/her client's hardships and work engagement appears to be partially explained by higher levels of grit among police detectives and by a greater sense of life-narrative continuity among mental health professionals.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)209-218
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Positive Psychology
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014

Keywords

  • altruism born of suffering
  • empathy
  • grit
  • survivor mission
  • work engagement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychology(all)

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