The influence of well-being programs emphasizing individual responsibility on self-stigmatization and the moderating role of health controllability.

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of burnout-related complaints such as emotional exhaustion among university students. Because of these high numbers there is a growing trend in universities who implement well-being programs. There is some evidence that these well-being programs have small positive effects, but they could also cause self-stigmatization. That is why the aim of this study was to examine if the focus of a well-being program (individual vs. organizational responsibility) influences self-stigmatization and if this is moderated by health controllability. The hypotheses were that self-stigmatization is higher when a well-being program emphasizes individual responsibility than when a well-being program emphasizes organizational responsibility and that the relationship between well-being programs and selfstigmatization will be moderated by health controllability. The results showed that selfstigmatization is indeed higher when a well-being program emphasizes individual responsibility than when a well-being program emphasizes organizational responsibility. Further, the results showed that health controllability didn’t moderate the effect of well-being programs on self-stigmatization. In the discussion the strengths and limitations of this study are discussed, and some recommendations are also made for policy and further research.