Module Code and Module Name MPSY4180 Wellbeing and Work
Assessment Type and Weighting Case Study, 100%
Deadline or Assessment Period 19
th June 2025
Word Limit 3,000 words
Module Lecturer Dr Ivy Cheung
Feedback Date 17th July 2025
Assessment Description
Background of the case study
Ambulance services are the primary emergency care provider in the healthcare
services. The service has played an essential role in shaping emergency care, is
often the first port of call for medical emergencies and responds to millions of
incidents each year. The central role of ambulance services is the emergency
assessment, treatment and transportation of patients with a variety of acute and lifethreatening illnesses and injuries.
Ambulance services usually consist of local organisations, which are receptive to
patients’ needs where local community members are able to have their say in the
running of the service. Within ambulance services, there are a variety of different
roles and responsibilities ranging from front-line staff who have direct contact with
patients to support staff.
For your assessment, choose one of the following options:
Option 1: Stress and resilience
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You have been approached by a Chief Executive at an ambulance service due to
the pressures mounting on staff because of budget cuts, responding to the COVID19 pandemic and organisational changes. Front-line ambulance staff (such as
paramedics) have reported feeling increased stress due to increasing job demands.
These job demands have included workload, particularly the increasing number of
emergency calls that staff are required to respond to and the time pressure of
meeting response times. As a result of these job demands, staff have reported
feeling dissatisfied with their role, which has led to an increase in sickness absence
and staff turnover. The HR department have approached you, an established
Consultant, for advice on dealing with these challenges. With reference to academic
literature on stress and resilience, critically discuss the approach you would take to
improve employee wellbeing and provide clear justifications for your
recommendations.
OR
Option 2: Bullying and emotional intelligence
You have been approached by a Chief Executive at an ambulance service due to
reports of bulling and harassment amongst staff. Front-line paramedics have
reported feeling intimidated, blamed, and unsupported by their Team Leaders.
Reports have included excessive monitoring individual performance targets,
increasing workload for junior employees and practical jokes being made on staff in
the ambulance station. Staff have complained to the HR department on numerous
occasions with some staff resigning from their role or transferring to other
ambulance services. The HR team have suggested that there is ineffective
leadership amongst Team Leaders, which has resulted in this type of behaviour.
Moreover, the Team Leaders have reported that they are feeling overwhelmed with
the role and lack support from their peers. With reference to academic literature on
bullying and emotional intelligence, critically discuss the approach you would take
to improve employee wellbeing and provide clear justifications for your
recommendations.
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Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate:
1. A systematic knowledge and practical understanding of factors affecting wellbeing within the context of work including the ability to critique current
theoretical frameworks and analyse problems.
2. A critical understanding of the practical and ethical issues that face business/
occupational psychologists in the areas of work and well-being, such as the
ethical balance between working for the client organisation whilst respecting
the employees’ rights to confidentiality.
3. Conceptual understanding to enable synthesis and application of appropriate
theoretical concepts in the contexts of well-being interventions in the context
of work.
4. Conceptual understanding to identify needs, analyse needs, formulate
solutions and evaluate strategies within the contexts of well-being in the
context of work.
Why this assessment?
This assessment has been chosen to help develop your skills and knowledge of
wellbeing and work in Business/Occupational Psychology. The assessment has
been designed to focus on a current problem for organisations that is at the forefront
of the discipline.
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Required Sections
For this assessment, you will need to include:
• A literature review:
• Ensure that you identify the factors within the organisation that might
be contributing to the current lack of wellbeing and the relevant
theoretical frameworks, linking this back to stress and resilience OR
bullying and emotional intelligence
• Critically discuss the research evidence regarding these theories as a
basis for an intervention
• Intervention recommendations:
• Synthesise the key themes from your discussion to formulate an
approach to improve staff wellbeing. This might take the form of
training, coaching, counselling, or a combination of these
• Consider ethical and practical issues
• Discuss how you would evaluate your approach

Struggling with where to start this assignment? Follow this guide to tackle your assignment easily!

📝 Title: Choose a Clear and Descriptive Title

Depending on your chosen option, use a professional and SEO-friendly title such as:

Stress and Resilience in Ambulance Services: Addressing Workforce Wellbeing Under Pressure
Bullying and Emotional Intelligence in Paramedic Teams: Improving Wellbeing through Leadership Support

📖 Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your 3,000-word Case Study

🔹 1. Introduction (Approx. 300–400 words)

Briefly introduce the context of the ambulance services.
Clearly state the chosen focus (either Stress and Resilience OR Bullying and Emotional Intelligence).
Identify the key issues faced by frontline staff and HR concerns.
State your objective: to propose evidence-based interventions to improve wellbeing, using relevant psychological theories and academic literature.

Example: “This report explores the effects of occupational stress on frontline paramedics in light of increasing workload and pandemic-related pressures, and proposes interventions to enhance employee resilience and wellbeing.”

🔹 2. Literature Review (Approx. 1,200–1,300 words)

✅ 2.1 Organisational Factors Affecting Wellbeing

Discuss internal organisational pressures (e.g., response times, workload, leadership style, monitoring, etc.).
Explain how these contribute to either stress/burnout or bullying/toxic culture.

✅ 2.2 Relevant Theoretical Frameworks

Choose your theory based on the option selected:

Option 1 (Stress & Resilience):
- Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R) (Bakker & Demerouti)
- Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman)
- Psychological Resilience Theory
Option 2 (Bullying & Emotional Intelligence):
- Emotional Intelligence (EI) Theory (Goleman; Salovey & Mayer)
- Social Learning Theory (Bandura) – useful for explaining modeled behavior in leadership
- Workplace Bullying Models (Einarsen et al.)

✅ 2.3 Critical Discussion of Research Evidence

Support your discussion with scholarly journal articles (2019–2024).
Critique the applicability of theories to the ambulance service context.
Explore how similar services or organisations have addressed these issues.

Tip: Use synthesis rather than summary. Show how theories interact, not just what they say.

🔹 3. Intervention Recommendations (Approx. 800–900 words)

✅ 3.1 Proposed Solutions

Design an intervention plan. This could include:

Option 1:
- Stress management training
- Resilience-building workshops
- Peer support programs
- Workload and shift redesign
Option 2:
- Leadership development for Team Leaders (with focus on emotional intelligence)
- Anti-bullying policies and awareness campaigns
- Mediation and coaching for conflict resolution

✅ 3.2 Justification of Recommendations

Link your recommendations back to theories and research.
Justify each intervention based on evidence from the literature.

✅ 3.3 Ethical and Practical Considerations

Discuss issues of confidentiality, informed consent, and the dual role of working with management while protecting staff rights.
Address resource constraints and feasibility.

🔹 4. Evaluation Plan (Approx. 300–400 words)

Describe how you would measure success:
- Staff wellbeing surveys (e.g., Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale)
- Absenteeism and turnover rates
- Feedback from staff post-intervention
Propose short-term and long-term evaluation methods.
Link back to theoretical frameworks (e.g., improvements in JD-R balance, reduction in bullying behavior).

🔹 5. Conclusion (Approx. 200–300 words)

Recap the main problem and proposed solutions.
Reinforce the role of psychological theory in guiding interventions.
Emphasize the importance of staff wellbeing to patient care quality and organisational success.

🧾 Additional Guidelines

Referencing: Use APA 7th Edition style. Include at least 10–15 peer-reviewed sources (from 2019–2024).
Word count: Stick to around 3,000 words, excluding references and appendices.
Plagiarism: Ensure your Turnitin score is below 20%. Use original synthesis, not long quotations.
Writing tone: Maintain a formal, analytical tone with clear headings and logical flow.

Would you like a full sample section written based on either Option 1 or Option 2?