Sense of coherence, occupational stressors, and mental health among Japanese high school teachers in Nagasaki prefecture
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Sense of coherence, occupational stressors, and mental health among Japanese high school teachers in Nagasaki prefecture: a multiple regression analysis Miho Kuwato1*
and Yuko Hirano2
Abstract Background: International research has indicated that teachers have an increased risk of mental disorders and work-related stress, compared with those working in other fields. In Japan, the deterioration of teachers’ mental health has recently become a serious social issue. Teaching is a high-stress occupation, and job stress can affect teachers’ physical and mental health. This study aimed to determine how sense of coherence, job satisfaction, and workplace social support contribute to the mental health status of public and private high school teachers in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Methods: The analytic sample comprised 370 high school teachers from eight public and three private schools in Nagasaki Prefecture who answered an anonymous survey comprising the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), which is a measure of mental health status, and questions regarding sociodemographic characteristics, occupational stressors, workplace social support systems, job satisfaction, and sense of coherence. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictors of mental health. Results: The survey was sent to 681 people, of whom 370 responded and were included in the analysis (effective response rate: 54.3%). The analysis indicated that sense of coherence was the strongest predictor of mental health (β = −.391, p < .0001), followed by workload stressors (β = .260, p < .0001), low job control (β = .099, p = .021), and job satisfaction (β = −.088, p = .040). Conclusion: The results suggest that a greater sense of coherence and job satisfaction are associated with greater mental health. Meanwhile, workload stressors and low job control undermined mental health status. Keywords: General health questionnaire, High school teachers, Occupational stressors, Sense of coherence
Background Educational environments can pose serious risks for students; these risks include bullying, truancy, and even student suicide [1]. These conditions also undermine the mental health status of teachers * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Nagasaki Rehabilitation College 42, Akasako, Omura, Nagasaki 856-0048, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
engaged in solving such problems. Several studies conducted in different countries internationally have reported that teachers have a higher risk of mental disorders and work-related stress, compared with other workers [2, 3]. According to a survey [4] conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), teachers scored higher on fatigue and job stressors than workers from other industries
© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reprod
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