The Effect of Physical Activity on Resilience, Subjective Well-being, and Work Engagement among Female Employees

Aim and The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 12-week physical activity on resiliency, subjective well-being, and work engagement among the female staff of Islamic Azad University.
Methods and Materials: This semi-experimental research was carried out having pre- and post-test. The statistical population of this study consisted of 94 female staff of Parand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran; from whom, 72 person were purposively selected as samples and were randomly divided into experimental (n = 36) and control (n = 36) groups. The tools for gathering data were Konor and Davidson Resiliency Inventory, Schaufeli and Bakker Work Engagement Inventory, and Keyes and Magyar-Mae Subjective Well-Being Inventory. Data were analyzed via SPSS software, using one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Findings: Aerobic exercise significantly increased resiliency, subjective well-being, and work engagement among the subjects (P 0.05 for all). The dimensions of mental health were not equally affected by the practice. The effect size was obtained 0.63, 0.49, and 0.09 in resiliency, work engagement, and Subjective well-being, respectively.
Based on our findings, it is recommended that managers should provide opportunities for their employees to participate in physical activity plans in order to increase their resilience, mental well-being, and work engagement. Under this condition, organizational managers can effectively benefit from their active and healthy human resources.