Self-Care, Psychological Well-Being and Team Cohesion among NGO Workers and Partner Staff: A Pre-Post Study

Organisational well-being programmes are increasingly needed in community-based and service-oriented settings where staff members are required to manage emotional, interpersonal, and operational demands. This pre-post study examined short-term changes following MindCare Solution, a one-day organisational counselling intervention developed from a preliminary needs analysis with a confidential community welfare NGO and a hospitality-based programme partner. The programme integrated stress and burnout psychoeducation, self-care reflection, recreation, team-based problem solving and nature-based environmental engagement. Thirty participants completed pre- and post-assessments using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the Team Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ). Descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests showed significant reductions in stress, depression and anxiety, alongside significant increases in subjective well-being and perceived team effectiveness. The findings suggest that a brief, experiential, and context-responsive counselling intervention can support short-term psychological well-being and team functioning among NGO workers and partner staff. However, the one-group design and immediate post-assessment mean that the findings should be interpreted as short-term associated changes rather than long-term causal effects.

self-care, organisational counselling, psychological well-being, pre-post intervention, team effectiveness

1. Buljac-Samardzic, M., Doekhie, K. D., & van Wijngaarden, J. D. H. (2020). Interventions to improve team effectiveness within health care: A systematic review of the past decade. Human Resources for Health, 18, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0411-3 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310-357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Kemp, T. (n.d.). Team effectiveness questionnaire. http://www.timkemp.co.uk [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Burnout. In G. Fink (Ed.), Stress: Concepts, cognition, emotion, and behavior (pp. 351-357). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800951-2.00044-3 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. McGuier, E. A., Kolko, D. J., Stadnick, N. A., Brookman-Frazee, L., Wolk, C. B., Yuan, C. T., Burke, C. S., & Aarons, G. A. (2023). Advancing research on teams and team effectiveness in implementation science: An application of the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework. Implementation Research and Practice, 4, 26334895231190855. https://doi.org/10.1177/26334895231190855 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Menhas, R., Yang, L., Saqib, Z. A., Younas, M., & Saeed, M. M. (2024). Does nature-based social prescription improve mental health outcomes? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 12, 1228271. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1228271 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Michaelsen, M. M., Graser, J., Onescheit, M., Tuma, M. P., Werdecker, L., Pieper, D., & Esch, T. (2023). Mindfulness-based and mindfulness-informed interventions at the workplace: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis of RCTs. Mindfulness, 14, 1271-1304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02130-7 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Suhaimi, A. F., Makki, S. M., Tan, K.-A., Silim, U. A., & Ibrahim, N. (2022). Translation and validation of the Malay version of the WHO-5 Well-Being Index: Reliability and validity evidence from a sample of Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7), Article 4415. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074415 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Thiyagarajan, A., James, T. G., & Marzo, R. R. (2022). Psychometric properties of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) among Malaysians during COVID-19: A methodological study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9, Article 220. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01229-x [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Topp, C. W., Ostergaard, S. D., Sondergaard, S., & Bech, P. (2015). The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: A systematic review of the literature. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(3), 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1159/000376585 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• A Comparative Study of Adjustment Level, Parental Income and Academic Achievement of Adolescent Girls
• Increase in STIs among Adolescents in Masvingo District
• A Correlation between SDG 4 (Quality Education) and Emotional Disposition of Teacher Educators in Hyderabad District
• Ear Piercing Behaviour and Self-Esteem among Male University Students in Nigeria
• A Study of Religiosity and Psychological Well-Being