Physical education and sports teachers’ health and well-being: workload, psychological resilience and social support perspective

Introductıon and aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between physical education and sports teachers' perceptions of workload and their psychological well-being, and to evaluate the roles of psychological resilience and perceived social support in this relationship. Method: The study employed a correlational survey design, and 276 physical education and sports teachers from public schools in Turkey participated. Data collection tools included the Teacher Workload Scale (TWP), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Psychological Well-being Scale (PWB), and the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSS). The validity of the measurement models was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and the hypotheses were evaluated using Hayes' Process Macro (Models 1, 4, and 7) and SPSS 25. Results: Under the first hypothesis, the indirect effect of workload on psychological well-being via psychological resilience was significant (b = −0.234, 95% CI [−0.327, −0.142]), explaining approximately 57% of the total variance. In the second hypothesis, perceived social support was found to moderate the relationship between workload and psychological resilience. At high levels of social support, the negative effect of workload on psychological resilience weakened (b = −0.079, 95% CI [−0.184, 0.025]). Within the scope of the third hypothesis, moderates mediation analysis showed that social support significantly mediated the indirect effect of workload on psychological well-being through psychological resilience (b = 0.004, 95% CI [0.001, 0.008]). While negative effects were evident at low levels of social support, they decreased significantly at high levels. Conclusion: The study reveals that the negative effect of teacher workload on psychological well-being operates through psychological resilience, and that perceived social support can mitigate these effects by moderating this process. The findings show that teachers' psychological resilience and social support resources play a critical role in mitigating the negative effects of workload. Educational policies and practices can be designed within the framework of workload management, strengthening social support mechanisms, and resilience-building programs. © The Author(s) 2026.