Exposure to mental load and psychosocial risks in kindergarten teachers
Article Category: Original scientific article
Published Online: Jun 26, 2019
Page range: 120 - 128
Received: Jan 31, 2019
Accepted: May 24, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2019-0016
Keywords
© 2019 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
Published research studies in Central Europe have been mostly oriented toward occupational stress among schoolteachers. The aim of this study is to investigate the level of occupational stress in kindergarten teachers and to specify psychosocial risks associated with their work.
Methods
The study was conducted by using a Meister questionnaire and a Psychosocial risk questionnaire. The data collection was obtained from kindergarten teachers in 2017. The survey link with request was sent to participants via email. A total 287 questionnaires from 67 kindergarten schools were collected.
Results
192 (66.9%) teachers perceived their work as mentally burdensome. Teachers who perceived their work as mentally non-burdening were more likely to report autonomy in their work (p=0.001), fair performance evaluation (p=0.010), sufficient family time (p=0.005), a health-protected workplace (p=0.000) and absence of violence and bullying (p=0.042). Teachers with a university degree perceiving work as mentally burdensome reported that their work was not adequately assessed (p=0.034). Teachers over 45 years of age with school practice of over 20 years reported injustice in evaluating work performance against younger colleagues (p=0.000).
Conclusion
Kindergarten teachers reported overloading, time pressure, and high responsibility, but considered their work interesting. However, changing the way teachers work in schools can reduce teacher resignation and improve teachers’ well-being.