The process of realizing change

Which strategies promise success? Which tactics are in need of a rethink? With the advent of the new year, it’s not only a time to look back and reflect, but also a time to initiate personal change with renewed vigor in the form of new year’s resolutions. Dr. Sonia Lippke, Adjunct Professor of Health Research and Prevention at Constructor University, has researched effective strategies in effecting change. A current research project of hers is taking a closer look at the job satisfaction of employees in psychiatric-psychosomatic clinics and practices. Participants are still being sought for an online survey.
 

Dr. Lippke, many people are actively on the lookout for renewed purpose, both professionally and personally. Are New Year's resolutions any different from our “normal” pursuit of change?

Psychologically speaking, no, not at first glance. There are, however, minor differences. The most fundamental difference is that the New Year, aka an arbitrary date, delivers the impetus for change. Typically, we have time during the holidays to unwind and decompress, and thus reflect on the past months, while thinking about the months ahead. Many people then resolve to change the things they didn't manage to do last year.
 

New Year’s resolutions have the reputation of being broken and rarely realized. How can we go about making them stick?

To be honest, many people are in fact very successful in implementing and sticking to their resolutions, which is in and of itself positive. One of the most-popular resolutions, for example, is to quit smoking and the number of smokers continues to decrease. As far as strategies go, there is no one-size-fits-all method. You always have to bear in mind what best suits you. To quit smoking, for example: A two-week vacation could be a much better time to stop smoking than the new year.
 

Why is that exactly?

Although it takes longer to build up habits, it gives you the opportunity to practice not smoking. This helps, for example, to avoid reaching for a cigarette in stressful situations, such as at work. However, it may also be that the stress level at work needs to be addressed or the working conditions changed in order to stop smoking in the long term. The list goes on and on.
 

What role does an individual’s motivation to change play in actually achieving goals?

Up to a certain level, motivation is actually beneficial, but only up to a certain extent. Trying to achieve more is useless. It is much more important to set specific goals and think about them: What do I need in this particular situation to achieve my goals? And once you have achieved it, once you have experienced success, you should stop, pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for the small victories.
 

The will to change is particularly widespread in professional life. Your doctoral student Katharina Schiffer is presently researching the situation of employees in psychiatric-psychosomatic clinics. What exactly does the study entail?

We want to better understand where problems lie and why many people feel overwhelmed or unhappy. We know from research that team cohesion is key, even when it comes to effectively coping with periods of high workload or when things are very stressful due to other factors. A good working culture, for example, also includes dealing constructively with mistakes. Wherever people work together, problems can arise. In a clinical context or in surgeries, the challenges are even greater because patient safety is always a priority here. Problems can arise, for example, if a handover or the exchange of information does not run smoothly.
 

An online survey of 600 employees is to be conducted as part of ongoing research. Can interested parties still participate?

Of course, and we would be delighted if they did. We want to give psychiatrists, psychologists and nursing staff in psychiatric and psychosomatic clinics a chance to voice their opinion. The survey will be conducted via the SoSci Survey platform and takes around 8 minutes to complete. All data collected is anonymized and securely stored to ensure that individual responses cannot be traced back to a participant.
 

Link to the survey:
https://www.soscisurvey.de/hippgesundheitspersonal/

 

Questions answered by:
Dr. Sonia Lippke | Adjunct Professor for Health Research and Prevention
slippke@constructor.university | Tel.: +49 421 200-4730