Introduction
The judicial field, with its complexity and diversity of tasks, presents a unique work scenario as it demands specialised skills and a high degree of commitment from its workers. Lawyers and administrators who work in this environment face a wide range of challenges daily, from direct contact with victims and criminals to the investigation of various crimes. Behind this apparent normality lies a reality marked by long work hours and constant pressure, which are factors that can significantly affect the well-being and mental health of workers in the judicial field.
Studies show that long work hours, together with the work activities and pressures typical of this context, are associated with imbalances in the well-being of workers, due to the stress and anxiety generated by this type of work (Brizuela, 2016). Other research highlights the emotional intensity of the work performed by lawyers, as well as the need to have emotional and mental skills to face these tasks. Furthermore, it highlights stressful situations related to their responsibilities towards their clients and superiors, often marked by conflict and friction (Labrador and Montiel, 2016).
While the judicial field is a demanding and challenging context to begin with, it was further impacted by the effects of COVID-19, declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in 2020, that compromised the health of workers and exacerbated their work conditions (Madero et al., 2021). The pandemic bred new work arrangements such as remote work that was used as a flexibility strategy by companies to enable workers to continue carrying out their work activities and to be able to keep their jobs. Furthermore, it was used as a strategy to reduce the risk of infections caused by COVID-19 (Madero et al., 2021). This decision meant that workers with little experience in remote work had to organize spaces and schedules to continue working from their homes (Kramer and Kramer, 2020). This sudden transition generated stress and anxiety due to the uncertainty associated with this change in work paradigm (Madero et al., 2021).
Numerous studies show that working remotely caused worry, anxiety, and annoyance, which, over time, became a source of stress that affected people’s health, due to isolation. The stress further bred secondary impacts on the relationship with family members or loved ones with whom one lives (Madero et al., 2021).
Negative effects that remote work brought with it have been evident, manifesting in greater conflicts between work and domestic responsibilities, musculoskeletal problems, burnout, excessive mental load, and fatigue, as well as a reduction in interaction and work performance, observed in this context. Physical and mental health problems have been observed among people who worked remotely, such as social isolation, overexposure to visual screens, and decreased physical activity, as well as sleep problems, depressive, and anxious symptoms (Cruz-Ausejo and Rosales, 2022).
Well-being
People’s well-being has been a topic of interest in psychological research. Questions repeatedly arise about what makes people happy, what it means to live a good life, or the means and motivations to achieve a sense of satisfaction. There is no universal answer to the questions asked, therefore, the concept of well-being has various approaches, being understood by some authors as the thoughts and feelings of people about their lives, and the cognitive and affective conclusions they draw when evaluating their existence (Cuadra and Florenzano, 2003; Pérez, 2013; Spreitzer et al., 2005). Other authors, meanwhile, focus on external factors such as success or the feeling of achievement, while others emphasize the evaluations that people make about their lives, or the positive and negative emotions associated with the results of daily life (Diener, et al., 1999).
One of these approaches refers to “subjective well-being,” a construct that has considerably achieved progress since 1953, with Diener et al. (1999) as a research pioneer, who defined the concept as the assessment that people make of their lives, which includes elements such as happiness, pleasant feelings, satisfaction, and the absence of unpleasant feelings (Diener, et al., 1999). The concept is composed of two dimensions, namely, the affective and cognitive dimensions.
The affective dimension encompasses moods and positive affective emotions such as joy, euphoria, ecstasy, pleasure, fun, among others, while the negative ones are associated with rage, anger, disappointment, sadness, disagreement, among others), which also have a genetic component that explains the positive or negative emotions of the present. The cognitive dimension, on the other hand, is the evaluation that an individual makes of his or her life in relation to the gap between where he or she wants to be, which includes goals, aspirations, achievements, and the person’s current position in life (Carballeira et al., 2015; Cuadra y Florenzano, 2003; Diener et al., 2018; García-Alandete, 2014; Pérez, 2013).
Subjective well-being, on the other hand, has been associated with different findings in the work context where it has been shown that the greater the subjective well-being of persons, the better their health and quality of life, the deeper their hope, the more fulfilling their interpersonal relationships, the greater their creativity, and the higher their work performance (Diener et al., 2018). Furthermore, it has been positively related to job satisfaction and “flourishing,” understood as a mental state where the individual experiences an elevated level of personal satisfaction towards their purposes, meanings and competencies (Diener et al., 2010).
A direct relationship, on the other hand, has been evidenced between organizational commitment and subjective well-being, that is, the greater the subjective well-being, the greater the organizational commitment and vice versa, which redound to higher productivity and growth in organizations. On the contrary, lower subjective well-being is related to low organizational commitment, leading to negative effects such as dissatisfaction, low productivity, and high staff turnover (Fonseca et al., 2019).
Consequently, the subjective well-being of workers has become one of the most relevant topics in the field of organizations, as it is related to their health and the quality of their work conditions that serve as a valuable tool to face contemporary challenges in the context of global development. Therefore, it has become pertinent for organizations to invest in practices that promote subjective well-being in their workers, helping to promote a safe work environment where labour rights are protected (United Nations General Assembly, 2015).
Engagement
A theoretical approach to the construct comes from the study of health at work, understanding it as a cognitive-affective construct that represents a high state of motivation manifested in involvement, effort, dedication, and absorption focused on activities performed (Schaufeli et al., 2002).
From this approach, the construct is based on the understanding of work tasks under the Job-Demand Resources Model (JD-R), which proposes that engagement is the result of the tension between the work demands on the worker and the available resources to cope with them (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014; Maluenda-Albornoz et al., 2019). Therefore, if the available resources are sufficient to deal with the demands, engagement, and motivation for work will be favoured. Otherwise, negative effects would be generated affecting these factors, including health (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014).
When the demands are challenging enough to test the worker’s capabilities and the resources are sufficient to successfully face them, an “engaged” motivational state is generated. However, motivational levels decrease for tasks that are not particularly challenging and stimulating or for those whose resources are too insufficient to achieve the goals of the task.
Among the available resources are work resources, which include the functional aspects of achieving work goals and stimulating personal growth (e.g., performance feedback, work control, and social support from colleagues); and personal resources, defined as aspects of the self, associated with resilience and abilities to successfully control and impact the environment such as self-efficacy, optimism, and emotional stability (Shaufeli, 2013). On the other hand, job demands are those physical, psychological, and organisational aspects of work that require sustained effort by the worker, which entail psychological and physiological costs in the form of work pressure and other similar variables (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014).
Work engagement is a meta-construct made up of different subdimensions: vigour, dedication, and absorption. Vigour refers to elevated levels of energy, mental activation, resilience, and willingness to invest efforts in work, persisting even in the face of difficulties, while dedication is characterized by enthusiasm, inspiration, and pride in work. Dedication would denote work involvement along with a greater commitment to work tasks, accompanied by a feeling of enthusiasm and motivation. Thus, it could be understood as being involved, being proud of and inspired by your work tasks while feeling enthusiastic at the same time. Absorption is considered as the feeling of being completely immersed and happy in the tasks performed, with total concentration on them. Therefore, it could be described as a state where the worker experiences intense concentration and satisfaction, losing track of time and finding difficulties in disconnecting due to the enjoyment and concentration experienced (Schaufeli, 2013).
Some authors even differentiate the agentic dimension of engagement, referring to it as the way in which subjects seek, in a constructive and proactive way, to be able to generate influence in a certain context that better supports their motivation (Guzmán-Arellano et al., 2024). Although the construct proposed by Reeve et al. (2022) arises from the educational context, it is possible to apply it to the work context, understanding that people actively try to adapt the conditions of their work (e.g. their physical space, the organization of their activities, the teams with which they collaborate, etc.) to obtain better results and greater well-being.
From a sociodemographic perspective, this positive motivational state of vigour, dedication, and absorption (Bakker et al., 2014), is associated with sex (Jeanson and Michinov, 2018); however, other authors indicate that women have greater engagement than men and is greater in people over 40 years of age (Saari et al., 2017), which are actually sustained even in extreme situations (Acuña et al., 2021).
On the other hand, research shows that workers who have greater engagement exhibit creative behaviours, greater learning, and proactive behaviours (Parker et al., 2010) in addition to possessing greater empowerment and greater skills to develop leadership. Within the organisation, Parker and Griffin (2011) indicate that people with these characteristics are expected to be more receptive to change during periods of uncertainty and crisis.
The pandemic was perceived as an unexpected and persistent interruption for both workers and companies, who were not adequately prepared to face it. Consequently, workers faced greater emotional demands and stress, which required greater engagement in activities they performed remotely. On the other hand, companies experienced a greater need for healthy resources and practices which were limited or delayed resulting from the lack of preparation, knowledge, or financial resources. These demands, both at the individual and business levels, add an additional emotional burden to the existing one due to the fear and uncertainty inherent in a pandemic context (Hernández, 2020).
From this perspective, it has been shown that one of the variables with the greatest impact when explaining high work engagement is the practice of support, but whose depth of impact depended on age such that there were lower levels of engagement among people younger than 40 years old who did not receive daily support (Acuña, et al., 2021). In this sense, it is important to highlight the role that leadership positions and managers have within an organization when exercising daily support practices (Pucheu, 2010), even more so in situations of greater emotional demand since managerial management aimed at supporting workers significantly increases their levels of engagement (Saari et al., 2017). Thus, consequently, it can contribute to a decrease in emotional deregulation in workers (Guzmán et al., 2020) and therefore to the negative psychological effects that arise in situations such as those generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The present study
Considering the previous discussions, the present study sought to describe the characteristics of engagement and work well-being among Chilean judicial assistance workers. Additionally, it sought to evaluate differences in work engagement and well-being in relation to sex and work areas of workers.
Judicial assistance workers are professionals from several areas who do not do direct judicial work (e.g. litigation or judgment) but are essential to the correct working of the judicial system (e.g., forensic psychologists, social workers, and administrative workers).
Methodology
Design and participants
The study was carried out using a quantitative approach and a predictive-correlational design type. Participants were selected through non-probabilistic convenience sampling linked to the willingness to voluntarily participate in the study. The sample included 56 workers or 49% of the participants of an intervention programme that aimed to improve work capabilities in the Judicial Assistance Corporation (JAC) of Chile. The 56 respondents were distributed by gender as follows: 32.6% men and 67.4% women. The composition by work area was composed of 62.9% for the professional sector and 37.1% for the technical area.
Measures
Work Engagement
The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale or UWES for short (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2003) was used in its abbreviated version adapted to the Chilean work context (Juyumaya, 2019). The UWES measures the degree of engagement experienced in the work context through nine items categorised into three major components: dedication (three items), vigour (three items), and absorption (three items). The first component refers to high work involvement, along with the manifestation of a feeling of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge for the work (Juyumaya, 2019). The second measures levels of energy and mental endurance while working and the desire to exert effort in the work at hand, even when difficulties arise while the third component refers to concentration at work, when time passes quickly and difficulties arise when disconnecting from what one is doing, due to the strong doses of enjoyment and concentration experienced by the individual (Juyumaya, 2019). The response form was developed through a Likert scale of five options, where 1 implied minimum agreement with the statement and 5 implied maximum agreement with the statement.
Well-Being
Six questions developed ad hoc by the research team were used to investigate the well-being experienced, considering interpersonal aspects, the workload experienced, among other conditions (Table 1). The response form was developed through a Likert scale of five options, where 1 implied minimum agreement with the statement and 5 implied maximum agreement with the statement.
Sex and work area
Additionally, the participants were consulted about their sex and their work area to establish subsequent comparisons.
Data collection procedure
All participants received an in-person invitation to voluntarily participate in the study after obtaining JAC’s permission to develop the project. Participants received an informed consent form indicating all features of the present study, explaining conditions, and detailing ethical considerations on human studies. After reading and accepting informed consent, the workers who decided to participate responded to a questionnaire in physical format and in person at their own usual workplaces. Those who did not want to participate did not have access to the questionnaire. It should be noted that participation did not imply any financial or material compensation. The participants, however, benefited from training in occupational health and well-being conducted by the research team as part of the main project. The data collection process was carried out between April and May 2023. In every case (participants and non-participants), confidentiality was upheld by using codes and eliminating any identifying personal information such as e-mail and names. The data was kept by the research team with password. The data was processed only in terms of group analysis and never by individuals.
Data analysis
The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics to evaluate the distribution of each variable, recognizing minimum and maximum values, in addition to measures of central tendency. After testing the associated assumptions, an analysis of comparison of means was carried out (Student’s t-test) contrasting the dependent variables (engagement and well-being) by sex and work area to which they belong. Finally, the relationships between engagement factors and well-being were evaluated using Pearson correlation.
Results
The descriptive statistics showed results tending towards medium-high levels of work engagement and work well-being (Table 2). Although none of the variables met the normality test, in all cases, the variables showed Skewness and Kurtosis values within the literature standards (± [2]).
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics of dependent variables.
| ABSORPTION | DEDICATION | VIGOUR | WORK ENGAGEMENT | WORK WELL-BEING | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | 11.321 | 12.464 | 11.643 | 35.429 | 21.821 |
| Std. Deviation | 2.241 | 2.097 | 1.986 | 4.459 | 3.568 |
| Skewness | –0.138 | –0.058 | –0.725 | 0.126 | 0.286 |
| Std. Error of Skewness | 0.319 | 0.319 | 0.319 | 0.319 | 0.319 |
| Kurtosis | –0.373 | –1.570 | 0.819 | –1.004 | –0.525 |
| Std. Error of Kurtosis | 0.628 | 0.628 | 0.628 | 0.628 | 0.628 |
| Minimum | 6.000 | 9.000 | 6.000 | 28.000 | 16.000 |
| Maximum | 15.000 | 15.000 | 15.000 | 43.000 | 30.000 |
The analysis of sex comparisons showed statistically significant differences between men and women in all variables, except for absorption, favourable to women compared to men (Tables 3 and 4). The effect size for all differences was moderate (Table 3).
Table 3
Gender t-test comparisons.
| VARIABLE | t | df | p | COHEN’S d | SE COHEN’S d |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absorption | –1.780 | 54 | 0.081 | –0.621 | 0.376 |
| Dedication | –2.957 | 54 | 0.005a | –1.032 | 0.418 |
| Vigor | –4.065 | 54 | <.001a | –1.418 | 0.471 |
| Work Well-Being | –3.192 | 54 | 0.002 | –1.114 | 0.429 |
| Work Engagement | –4.350 | 54 | <.001a | –1.518 | 0.487 |
[i] Note. Student’s t-test.
Table 4
Descriptive statistics for sex comparisons.
| VARIABLE | SEX | n | MEAN | SD | SE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absorption | Male | 15 | 10.200 | 2.616 | 0.827 |
| Female | 41 | 11.565 | 2.105 | 0.310 | |
| Dedication | Male | 15 | 10.800 | 1.229 | 0.389 |
| Female | 41 | 12.826 | 2.080 | 0.307 | |
| Vigor | Male | 15 | 9.600 | 2.459 | 0.777 |
| Female | 41 | 12.087 | 1.575 | 0.232 | |
| Work Well-Being | Male | 15 | 18.800 | 2.044 | 0.646 |
| Female | 41 | 22.478 | 3.501 | 0.516 | |
| Work Engagement | Male | 15 | 30.600 | 1.075 | 0.340 |
| Female | 41 | 36.478 | 4.215 | 0.621 |
The analysis of comparisons by work area (professional vs. technical) showed only statistically significant differences between professionals and technicians in vigour and well-being, favourable to the professional workers compared to the technical workers (Tables 5 and 6). The effect size for all differences was small (Table 5).
Table 5
Work area t test comparisons.
| t | df | p | COHEN’S d | SE COHEN’S d | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absorption | 0.616 | 54 | 0.730a | 0.168 | 0.274 |
| Dedication | –1.284 | 54 | 0.102 | –0.351 | 0.277 |
| Vigour | –1.958 | 54 | 0.028 | –0.536 | 0.281 |
| Work Well-Being | –1.877 | 54 | 0.033 | –0.513 | 0.281 |
| Work Engagement | –1.143 | 54 | 0.129 | –0.313 | 0.276 |
[i] Note. Student’s t test.
Table 6
Descriptive statistics for work area comparisons.
| WORK AREA | n | MEAN | SD | SE | COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absorption | Professional | 34 | 11.471 | 2.561 | 0.439 | 0.223 |
| Technical | 22 | 11.091 | 1.659 | 0.354 | 0.150 | |
| Dedication | Professional | 34 | 12.176 | 1.946 | 0.334 | 0.160 |
| Technical | 22 | 12.909 | 2.287 | 0.488 | 0.177 | |
| Vigour | Professional | 34 | 11.235 | 2.161 | 0.371 | 0.192 |
| Technical | 22 | 12.273 | 1.518 | 0.324 | 0.124 | |
| Work Well-Being | Professional | 34 | 21.118 | 3.666 | 0.629 | 0.174 |
| Technical | 22 | 22.909 | 3.191 | 0.680 | 0.139 | |
| Work Engagement. | Professional | 34 | 34.882 | 4.333 | 0.743 | 0.124 |
| Technical | 22 | 36.273 | 4.621 | 0.985 | 0.127 |
Finally, statistically significant relationships were observed between all variables. The strongest relationship was observed between dedication and work well-being. The relationships between vigour and dedication, vigour and well-being, absorption and well-being were moderate in nature. The other relationships were of slight magnitude (Table 7).
Conclusion and Discussion
The present research sought to examine the characteristics of work engagement and well-being in judicial assistance workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to evaluating differences in these variables in relation to the sex and work area of the workers. The results indicate medium to high levels of work engagement and well-being among the participants, with notable differences depending on sex and work area. The levels of work engagement and well-being observed in this study are consistent with previous research that highlights the importance of these constructs in the work context (Diener et al., 2018; Bakker and Demerouti, 2014). In particular, the results suggest that judicial assistance workers in Chile tend to experience a high degree of engagement, well-being, absorption, dedication, and vigour in their work tasks, as shown in the mean scores compared to the minimum and maximum possibles scores on each scale. This comparison point is taken because there are no standardized values in this population for an ad hoc analysis.
In terms of sex, women reported significantly higher levels of dedication, vigour, and work well-being compared to men. This contrasts with some studies that have not found significant differences between sexes (Jeanson and Michinov, 2018) but is aligned with research that indicates that women can experience greater engagement in the work context (Saari et al., 2017). As a hypothesis, these findings could reflect differences in the way in which men and women face and perceive their work roles and the associated emotional demands, suggesting possible cultural differences that impact the training and skills of each one to approach them. Another possible explanation is related to the effect of organizational culture on the differentiation of jobs that imply differences in work experiences. In any case, more evidence must be obtained to approach substantive explanations for these differences in experience.
Regarding differences by work area, professionals showed higher levels of vigour and well-being compared to technicians. This difference may be related to the nature of the work and the resources available to each group. In the case of professional work, there is a higher level of autonomy, responsibility, and pressure in jobs related to judicial assistance, which can imply greater energy depletion, which affects the workers’ well-being. Aspects such as autonomy and power in decision-making that usually contribute to greater employee engagement (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014; Schaufeli, 2013) could have a different effect when they exceed resources and become excessive demands.
The correlations observed between the dimensions of engagement and work well-being reinforce the idea that these constructs are interrelated. The strongest relationship was found between dedication and work well-being, suggesting that high involvement and enthusiasm at work are positively associated with a general perception of well-being. Similarly, workers who experience higher levels of immersion also perceive greater well-being. Finally, workers who experience greater energy and strength to face tasks perceive greater well-being. These relationships are consistent with previous research that links work engagement with better mental health and job satisfaction (Diener et al., 2018; Fonseca et al., 2019).
The findings of the present study have important implications for research, policies, and organizational practices in the judicial field. Firstly, they confirm preliminary findings on the matter and allow us to provide novel evidence regarding the judicial assistance profession which, as previously described, maintains characteristics of stress, psychological demands, and particular workload, which leads to appreciating these particularities to improve working conditions. The differences by work area and sex also suggest that, to foster positive and healthy work environment, it is crucial to protect the subjective well-being of workers considering the working conditions and the type of particular demands that distinguish this work context from others. It could be an option to provide more support to men to facilitate greater work engagement, vigour and dedication in the work context, and investigate the reasons for the differences between sexes in the context of the judicial assistance profession.
Regarding the limitations of the study, it is important to indicate that the sample size was relatively small and was limited to a specific organization, along with the fact that the sample of participants was drawn up based on the workers’ willingness to participate voluntarily, which may affect the generalisability and representativeness of the results. Furthermore, the cross-sectional nature of the study prevents establishing causal relationships between the variables.
Future research could expand the scope of this study, including larger and more diverse samples, as well as longitudinal designs to explore how work engagement and well-being evolve over time, as well as possible causal relationships between variables limited to the judicial assistance context. Along with this, it would also be valuable to investigate specific interventions available in the literature that can improve these constructs in the judicial assistance context, identifying their viability for their implementation in these work settings.
Ethics and Consent
This research was made following the ethical statements proposed in the Helsinki and Singapore declarations related with research in humans by using informed consent, confidentiality, and the corresponding processes explicated in method’s section.
Funding Information
This research was carried out through the project “Program to strengthen intra- and interpersonal skills for comprehensive well-being at work by the Biobío Judicial Assistance Corporation,” which was developed between 2022 and 2023.
Competing Interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
Author Contributions
Formal analysis, J.M.-A.; Funding acquisition, J.M.-A.; Investigation, J.M.-A., C.G.-A. and B.S.-A.; Project administration, J.M.-A.; Writing—original draft, C.G.-A. and B.S.-A.; Writing—review and editing, C.G.-A. and B.S.-A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.