Teaching has been recognized as a high stress job but few studies have examined the causes and potential solutions. An article in September 2016 Issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health uses " an adjusted Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model that considers the mediation of personal resources. the study examined the relationships between two characteristics of the work environment (emotional job demands and trust in colleagues) and two indicators of teachers’ well-being (teaching satisfaction and emotional exhaustion). In particular, the study focused on how emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) mediate these relationships. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that: (1) the emotional job demands of teaching were detrimental to teacher well-being, whereas trust in colleagues was beneficial; (2) both emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationships between both emotional job demands and trust in colleagues and teacher well-being; and (3) teachers who tend to use more reappraisal may be psychologically healthier than those tend to adopt more suppression." The authors conclude that "that teachers should be seen as emotional workers, who need to be highly sensitive to the demands that their work makes on their emotions and well-being [61]. Given the high mean score of emotional job demands reported in this study, further attention should be paid to the adverse effects of the emotional demands faced by teachers." As well, they argue that "trust in colleagues is positively related to teaching satisfaction and less emotional exhaustion via the indirect effect of, respectively, reappraisal or suppression." Other studies of the work lives of teachers report that teaching is a lonely occupation and that it is difficult for teachers to work closely with colleagues due to lack of planning time in their work day. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
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An article in Issue #3, 2016 of Stress & Health reports that German teachers are experiencing a higher rate of mental health problems than the general population due to a greater imbalance between effort and rewards in their careers. "High degrees of premature retirement among teachers warrant investigating the occupational burden and the mental health status of this profession.A sample of 1074 German teachers participated in this study. Two samples of the general population (N = 824 and N = 792) were used as comparison groups. Work distress was assessed with the Effort–Reward-Imbalance questionnaire, and mental health problems were measured with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Teachers reported more effort–reward imbalance (M = 0.64) compared with the general population (M = 0.57), and they perceived more mental health problems (GHQ: M = 12.1) than the comparison group (M = 9.5). Moreover, teachers working full time reported more mental health problems. The higher degree of effort–reward imbalance and the level of mental health problems warrant preventive measures." Read More>> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
A study on the relationship between a schools’ health and teachers’ organizational commitment reported in Issue #4, 2015 of the International Journal of School Health confirms our intuitive guess, a healthy school means more committed teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between schools’ organizational health and teachers’ organizational commitment in Shiraz high schools in Iran. "The findings indicated that schools’ organizational health and its dimensions including institutional integrity, consideration, resource support, morale and academic emphasis were at moderate level, but the initiating structure and principal influence were at low level. Also, teacher’s commitment and its dimensions (emotional commitment and continuance commitment) were at moderate level and normative commitment was at high level. The results showed that the correlation between schools’ organizational health and teachers’ commitment was 0.64, and the correlation coefficients between teachers’ commitment and institutional integrity, initiating structure, consideration, principal influence, resource support, morale and academic emphasis were 0.56, 0.44, 0.42, 0.22, 0.26, 0.16 and 0.65, respectively. The results indicated that the correlation between schools’ organizational health and emotional commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment were 0.62, 0.32, and 0.66, respectively. Finally, five dimensions of school health- institutional integrity, initiating structure, resource support, morale and academic emphasis positively predicted teacher commitment.". Read more>> (An item from the ISHN Member information service)
(From the ISHN Member information service) A May 2014 report on the preparation of Canadian teachers to promote mental health in their initial teacher education or pre-service university programs found a number of gaps. The researchers noted that (1) only two courses among the 50+ education faculties across all provinces and territories met all four criteria for a mental health literacy course for teacher candidates, (2) many courses took reactive approaches to a minority of students in need when considering mental health—dealing with students already in emotional crisis, students demonstrating behavioural challenges, or students at risk of school failure because of emotional difficulties. In contrast, physical “health” courses tended to take a proactive or protective approach for all students, helping all students develop healthy eating habits and teaching students to enjoy regular physical exercise. (3) Though some programs opted to conceptualize this area as “mental health” and “psychological health” or “psychological well-being” , many programs broadened their conceptualizations to “holistic health”, “whole child health”, and “comprehensive health and wellness” as reflected through course offerings. These differences are not only linguistic but also indicative of dynamic changes in the field. We found that while some courses referenced specific mental health challenges—such as stress, anxiety, depression, anorexia etc.—others, in contrast, focused on the cultivation of qualities or skills, such as empathy, hope, sustainable happiness, appreciation, and positive relationships. Thus, in order to design and offer more classes to our country’s B.Ed. students, we need to understand and come to a common conceptualization of what exactly comprises mental health and well-being." Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in October, 2013 Issue of BMC Public Health describes the weight status of German kindergarten teachers and suggests that their health is at greater risk than that of the general population and that they may offer an unhealthy role model for their students. The researchers report that "Kindergarten teachers aged 18–62 years (n = 313) were invited to complete a self-reported questionnaire. Their obesity status, health risk behaviors (i.e., habitual physical activity, screen time activities, eating behavior patterns, smoking), and their general ability to identify overweight children and the associated health risks of overweight and obesity based on special age- and sex-specific silhouettes were analyzed. Data regarding kindergarten teachers’ weight status and smoking behavior were compared with nationally representative data from the 2009 Microcensus (n = 371310) using the Mann–Whitney U-test. The prevalence rates of overweight and obesity were 41.2% and 17.9%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity was significantly higher in kindergarten teachers (p < 0.001) compared to national Microcensus data. Only 44.6% of teachers were able to identify overweight children correctly. The fact that being overweight is associated with physical and mental health risks was only reported by 40.1% and 21.2% of teachers, respectively. Older kindergarten teachers were more likely to misclassify the overweight silhouettes, while younger, normal-weight, and overweight kindergarten teachers were more likely to underestimate the associated health risks. Obese kindergarten teachers reported spending more time in front of computer and television screens than their normal-weight counterparts, especially on weekends. In addition, obese kindergarten teachers reported eating less often with their families and more frequently reported watching television during meals. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Teaching is a high stress occupation and there is often discussion (but less action) to support teacher wellness. An article in Issue #2, 2013 of School Mental Health reports on the use of the Triple P Parenting Workplace program on a group of teachers who are also parents. The authors report that" Analyses indicated the intervention had a positive effect on a range of occupational variables including work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, occupational stress and teaching efficacy. Intervention effects were also found for family- and personal adjustment-related variables including dysfunctional parenting styles, child behaviour, parenting efficacy, and depression and anxiety. Small to large effect sizes were obtained (Cohen’s d = .34–.85), and all intervention effects were maintained at 4-month follow-up. The results indicate that a parenting intervention can reduce work–family conflict and occupational stress and improve family functioning in teachers balancing work and family". Read more>>
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