Educator Perspectives on Stressors and Health: A Qualitative Study of U.S. K-12 Educators in February 2022

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brennan ME ; Cavallari JM ; Charamut NR ; Dugan AG ; Miskovsky MN ; Sanetti LMH ; Suleiman AO ; Trudel SM
• Description:
  Background: Teachers experienced increased stressors and stress during the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many educators returned to in-person instruction in the 2021-2022 school year, they faced changing job demands and stressors which has important implications for educator well-being. We sought to understand the stressors and health impacts faced by U.S. educators in the 2021-2022 school year, two years following the acute phase of the pandemic. Methods: Thirty-four certified educators based in Connecticut, USA participated in four virtual focus groups in February 2022. A semi-structured focus group script, designed by the research team and guided by the job demands-resources model, was administered to understand stressors and stress impacts. Data were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method to identify themes and sub-themes. Themes were summarized based on how many participants mentioned them. Results: Analysis of the qualitative data yielded three themes concerning the well-being impacts of stress: physical health and health behaviors, psychological health, and relationships and social well-being behaviors. The majority of educators indicated impacts in these domains with 76% indicating impacts on physical health and health behaviors (e.g. poor sleep, physical exhaustion, lack of exercise, unhealthy eating), 62% indicating impacts on psychological health (e.g. emotional exhaustion, anxiety, negative self-evaluation); and 68% indicating impacts on relationships social well-being behaviors (e.g. connections with family or friends, connections with others, relationships with coworkers). The majority (94%) of educators indicated that stressors from the school or district with the majority (91%) citing stressors related to protocols/expectations (e.g. excessive or increased demands, insufficient or decreased resources) and some (38%) administrators. Over half (62%) indicated personal stressors including personal/home life (41%), high personal expectations (18%), and income (18%). Some (35%) indicated either the pandemic (26%) or safety concerns (9%) were stressors. Some (24%) cited students' parents as a stressor and a few indicated community (12%), students (12%), and state or national level (9%) stressors. Conclusion: Educator well-being continued to be impacted in the post-pandemic era. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce school and district-related demands and to address stress-related educator well-being. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Education Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: COVID-19 COVID-19 Educators Job Stress Mental Health Psychological Effects Qualitative Analysis Stress Teaching Well-being
• ISSN:
  1471-2458
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Boston Region [OSHA] ; Connecticut ; New York ; New York City Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  24
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070201
• Citation:
  BMC Public Health 2024 Oct; 24:2733
• Contact Point Address:
  Jennifer M. Cavallari, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT
• Email:
  cavallari@uchc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20210901
• Source Full Name:
  BMC Public Health
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:406e4a3351113046b05ea99938ac1bdfb740750cde1133ecb54cebe2f092b9e42364681b2db9c66df41aa55d4bc17ee69b73a2b3ebd854a1b052bfbd5779a32c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208457/cdc_208457_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.34 MB ]