Interview: A Qualitative Study of Occupational Stress and Coping Mechanisms among

University Academic Staff in England

Part 1: Introduction

My name is Stefania, I am a third year-student at University of Northampton, studying Psychology

and Criminology. The aim of this study is to investigate the exposure to stress at the workplace
among university teachers from England as well as the strategies that they use to cope with stressful
situations from their daily activities at work. Please ensure you read the consent form and
acknowledge yourself with all the aspects of the study. As a reminder, the identity of the
participants will be held anonymous and please let me know if you feel uncomfortable, distressed
or embarrassed during the interview and I will stop it immediately. If you don’t want to answer
some questions or you want to withdraw please let me know any time during the interview.

Part 2: Interview Questions

How do you prepare for a lecture the day before it’s due?

Does your workplace provide you with any measures to monitor and manage your stress at
work?

What’s the most stressful situation you’ve faced at work so far? How did you handle it?

How do you prevent a situation from getting too stressful to manage?

What advice would you give to calm down a colleague who’s stressed out about a
deadline?

Can you describe a time when your stress resulted in making errors at work, for example in
marking student papers?

How would you deal with frequent changes at work? For example, if there will be change
in the teaching curriculum or if new teachers joined your team.

If assigned with multiple tasks at the same time, how would you organize yourself to
produce quality work under tight deadlines?

Describe a time you had to make a tough decision, for example report your colleague or
choose between two job offers. How did you make sure you were objective?
How do you ensure that stressful situations in your personal life don’t affect your work
performance?

Part 3: Conclusion/ Support

Is it anything else you would like regarding occupational stress and coping mechanisms among
university teachers?

Is there any feedback or anything that you would like to suggest regarding the way I conduct
interviews?

If you have any concerns, questions about the interview or you need support, please don’t hesitate
to contact me at stefania.ciubotaru20@mynorthampton.ac.uk.
During the interview, there is a possibility that the participants can disclose sensitive information
about illegal issues or there could be sensed a potential conflict of interests. In this context, the
researcher will adhere to the institutional and governmental requirements to nullify or mitigate
the conflict, in case there is a conflict of interests. Regarding the illegal or sensitive issues that can
be disclosed by the participants during the interview, the researcher has the same legal
obligations that they have in any other circumstances, however there is no general legal
obligation in the UK to report observed illegal activities. According to the UCL Research Ethics
Policy, there could be some moral obligations where the researchers need to report the case to
the authorities, for example if the participant will reveal a previously undetected offence or the
researcher might see circumstances that require disclosure as a matter of personal morality or
professional ethics, but this is strictly related to their moral obligations. As this study explores
occupational stress, it is presumed that some information could be categorised as dangerous or
could lead to potential danger in future, however in order to protect my participants wellbeing,
mental health and privacy I will keep confidential all the data as long as it does not exceed my
moral obligations as a researcher.