Psychosocial Correlates of Psychological Wellbeing among Clergy of the Presbyterian Church and the Church of Pentecost in Accra

Abstract

The study examined the psychosocial correlates of psychological wellbeing among the clergy of the Presbyterian Church and the Church of Pentecost in Accra. A concurrent mixed-method approach composed of a quantitative and qualitative methods was used. The quantitative involved the use of questionnaires administered to three hundred and six (306) conveniently sampled clergy from some selected congregations among the GA and GA West Presbyteries of the Presbyterian church of Ghana in Accra and some selected churches within the eleven administrative Areas of the Church of Pentecost in Accra. The qualitative study involved an in depth interview with twenty-seven (27) participants that comprised of fourteen Presbyterian clergy and thirteen Church of Pentecost clergy all within Accra with age range between thirty to sixty-five years who have gained at least three years of experience in the ministry. The clergy were administered with the Psychological General Wellbeing Index Scale (PGWBI), Maslach Burnout Inventory Scale, Work Family Conflict Scale and Job Satisfaction Scale to test the psychosocial correlates that affects their psychological wellbeing. The results from the quantitative analysis indicate that no significant differences were seen in job satisfaction, work-family conflict, family-work conflict and burnout by gender. Exhaustion, work family conflict, family-work conflict, efficacy and job satisfaction excluding cynicism significantly predicted psychological wellbeing. There were significant differences between Presbyterian and Church of Pentecost clergies on job satisfaction, work-family conflict and exhaustion by church group. The results from the thematic analysis used to analyze the qualitative data indicates that the clergies from both churches experience certain psychosocial issues such as difficulty in performing family duties, privacy violations, transfer issues, financial commitment and difficulties, emotional drain, administrative and ministerial role conflict. Finally, all implications and recommendations were made with regards to the findings of the study and limitations were discussed