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There is an ever-increasing focus on the importance of addressing the mental health of students across the higher education sector. Measuring psychological distress or symptoms of common mental disorders as a proxy for mental health does however provide a limited picture of someone's mental health status. There is a need to comprehensively measure mental health via outcomes of psychological distress combined with "positive" and "adaptive" states of mental health such as mental wellbeing and resilience. This paper describes a study of 905 students in which an online mental health and wellbeing platform was used to measure the mental health of students, all the while providing realtime individual reports to each individual student. The data provides evidence of high levels of psychological distress (i.e. anxiety) and low levels of mental wellbeing and resilience in students, relative to population norms, with merely 18.6% of students demonstrating optimal scores on all outcomes. Contrary to predictions we found no evidence of poorer wellbeing amongst international students when compared to domestic students. The results indicate that complimenting measurement of distress with measurement of positive and adaptive states can more comprehensively capture the precarious mental status of our tertiary students. Providing this measurement in a scalable and targeted way provides universities and its students the opportunity to provide and use mental health interventions based on the needs of particular cohorts of students, moving beyond resource-intense but intermittent or untargeted approaches to intervention.

Abstract: This paper explores how front‐line street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) cope with the expectations of citizens, clients, or ‘customers’ in daily work and how SLBs may be impacted by emotional labour. The study analyses data from 41 interviews with SLBs in local councils in Victoria, Australia. Although exploratory, it builds awareness and understanding of the emotional labour associated with public service. The situations that SLBs engage with on a daily basis are many and varied and take the form of increased expectations and intense encounters. Respondents experienced abuse, threats, violence, but also ‘sparkle moments’. Resources that helped SLBs cope are diverse and located both within and outside organisations. Implications are discussed and issues that merit additional investigation are raised concerning how SLBs can be supported to better meet the demands of the public. The research is of value to public managers and SLBs operating in a changing society with increased ‘customer’ expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: ‘Public service motivation’ (PSM) is usually reported as a bright force although recent debate alludes to a dark side. Variables representing each side are, respectively, job satisfaction and burnout. This study tests for both the bright and potential dark direct effects of PSM and responds to calls to further validate the international PSM instrument developed by Kim et al. ( ). Using a sample of 455 local council workers in Australia, analysis confirmed that while the measure was robust and generalizable in its structure, none of the dimensions of PSM were found to influence either job satisfaction or burnout. Plausible explanations include contextual factors, nomological concerns with the measurement instrument, and the notion that PSM has a non‐significant influence on either. The implications of these findings are discussed and future research proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green human resource management contributes to an understanding of the role of human resource management (HRM) towards sustainability and environmental outcomes. This paper assesses employees’ environmental knowledge as well as self‐perceptions of ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) to practise green behaviours by operationalising the AMO framework towards a pro‐environmental agenda. The study draws on a survey sample of 394 employees from five organisations in regional Australia. Key findings show that pro‐environmental AMO are positively associated with green behaviours and that these are more prevalent at home than in the workplace. Further, line managers moderate the relationship between pro‐environmental AMO and green behaviour although not the relationship between environmental knowledge and green behaviour. Such benchmark measurement informs HRM policies, practices and interventions and contributes to environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the concept of emotional labour to illuminate areas of pressure and strain for teachers in English primary and secondary schools. It explores the impact of aspects of new public management reform on the nature and differences in the emotional labour experienced by teachers. The aim of this research was to help us understand the difficulties and tensions that this group of public sector professionals may be experiencing in the current environment. This research investigates the emotional side of teaching as a source of both job satisfaction and stress, in a performance-driven education sector. Findings show that the emotional labour presented differs in terms of its source, severity and impact on educational and personal goals and also that prescriptive and bureaucratically driven teaching frustrates teachers. The study contributes to the growing literature on emotional labour distinctive to public institutions. Theoretical and practical implications for recruitment, selection and training are discussed concluding with a research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]