This study presents an empirical overview of the personal and contextual factors which surround the work-related lives of Church of England clergy who are responsible for multi-parish rural churches at the beginning of the 21 st century. It aims to add scientific rigour to an area which has previously been little explored.
Chapter 1 discusses the development and contents of a specially designed multi-faceted questionnaire which formed the vehicle for the collection of data from 722 rural clergy.
Chapter 2 investigates the stress/stressor concept, and includes a description of the 'taxonomy of hassles' being used to examine how stressful rural clergy find different aspects of their ministry. In chapters 3 and 4 consideration is given to the extent to which rural clergy employ different 'secular' and 'religious' coping practices in order to 'manage' personal and/or environmental stressors which 'tax' or 'exceed' their personal resources, and chapters 5 and 6 explore 'subjective well-being' and 'professional burnout' as two important indicators of 'work-related psychological health' .
Finally, in chapter 7, Eysenck's (1947/1988) three-dimensional model of personality is presented in the belief that personality can be an indicator of behaviour, offering insight into areas of strength and vulnerability which the rural clergy bring to their ministry.
Throughout the study, the factors surrounding the 'work-related psychological health' of rural clergy have been researched through the review of relevant literature and, where relevant, the psychometric properties of the measurement instruments being employed have been evaluated through the assessment of internal reliabilities.
The conclusion summarises findings in the areas explored and suggests that the
empirically-framed overview produced might be used as a 'springboard' for further research within the sphere of rural ministry.