Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises: The role of work engagement in support of people through the recovery process and in preventing relapse in drug and alcohol abuse.
BACKGROUND
This study, carried out in five Therapeutic Communities (TCs), aims to evaluate the relationship between social support and sense of community for people with pathological addictions and the personal and professional dimensions of hope, resilience, work engagement, future time perspective, and job performance. Support to the person is attained through social support at work by the supervisor and the person's sense of belonging to the community.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between social support, sense of community, hope, resilience, work engagement, future time perspective, and job performance.


METHODS
In order to verify the relations between those variables, structural equation models with observed variables (path analysis) were estimated using LISREL 8.80.


RESULTS
The results show a direct relationship between social support at work by the supervisor and hope, as well as between sense of community and resilience at work, while work engagement plays a mediating role between the two antecedents and the personal and professional variables investigated - hope, resilience, future time perspective and performance at work. Performance was measured through both people's self-perceptions and their supervisors' evaluations. A positive correlation exists between the two assessments.


CONCLUSIONS
The positive consequences of the research entail both theoretical and practical aspects.
Department of Social and Institutional Science, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Barbara
B
Barbieri
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Laura
L
Dal Corso
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Anna Maria
AM
Di Sipio
Department of Human Science (Communication, Training, Psychology), LUMSA University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Alessandro
A
De Carlo
Department of Human Science (Communication, Training, Psychology), LUMSA University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Paula
P
Benevene
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D065026:Hope; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D012944:Social Support; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013808:Therapeutic Community; D013997:Time Factors; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Therapeutic community; drug and alcohol addiction; performance; positive attitudes; work engagement