CHALLENGING/HINDERING DEMANDS AND NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL/HEALTH OUTCOMES ON UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AND RESEARCHERS: A SCOPING REVIEW AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A META-ANALYSIS

The aim of the study is to investigate the type of demands (hindering/challenging) perceived by professors/researchers, and their relationship with negative psychological/health outcomes. First, a scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines, and 37 of the 119 articles that emerged, published until 2020, were selected. Findings highlighted how specific demands (overload, time pressure), are not always consid-ered as hindering or challenging in the same way, and how this affects their relationship with negative out-comes. In light of these findings, two meta-analytic models were examined on a total of 12809 participants. In model 1, following Crawford et al., work overload and time pressure were operationalized as challenges, whereas in model 2 a more specific operationalization of these demands was conducted according to the way in which they were considered hindrance/challenge in each study in the meta-analysis. Results showed an effect of demands on the outcomes in the two models (model1 r = .18, p= 0.004; model2: r=.17, p=.008). The moderating effect of the type of stressors was statistically significant only in model 2: hindrance(r=.25, p=.002); challenge(r=.09, p=.23).Limitations, directions for future research and practical implication are also discussed.