Psychological Resilience and Employee Wellbeing Among Support Staff in South African High Schools

Abstract Book of the 19th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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Psychological Resilience and Employee Wellbeing Among Support Staff in South African High Schools

Zona Sofono, Dr. Kiss Orhidea Edith

ABSTRACT:

Background: Support staff in education are important to school functioning but face high job demands with limited resources and research on their psychological wellbeing remains limited.

Objective: This study examined whether psychological resilience predicts employee wellbeing among South African support staff in the education sector.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey (N=92) was conducted across urban, semi-urban, township, and rural high schools. Participants completed the PERMA Wellbeing Scale (α = 0.845) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10; α = 0.724). Simple linear regression analysis examined the resilience-wellbeing relationship.

Results: Resilience showed to significantly predict wellbeing (β = 0.584, t = 6.83, p < .001), explaining 34.1% of variance, a large effect size. Qualitative findings revealed major stressors (power outages, workload, policy uncertainty) and coping strategies (peer support, religious practices, family support).

Conclusion: Psychological resilience is a key predictor of employee wellbeing among South African support staff in the education sector. The large effect suggests resilience functions as a protective personal resource in demanding educational contexts. The findings suggest prioritising resilience-building interventions in staff development programmes, particularly addressing context-specific infrastructure and organisational challenges.

Keywords: Psychological Resilience, Employee Wellbeing, Educational Support Staff, PERMA, CD-RISC-10, South Africa