Health Promotion Program for Secondary School Teachers in Managing Their Work-Related Stress

Abstract

Occupational stress impacts adversely on individual health problems, as well as society in general, because quality of work and productivity suffer when employees experience high occupational stress. Occupational stress has been reported to cost employers as much as US$200 billions a year (Kulkarni, 2006). This study reports a health promotion program conducted by nurses using cognitive-behavorial approach for stress management. One hundred and ninety teachers were recruited from 3 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Stress, depression and anxiety levels as well as dysfunction thought patterns and stress management behaviors were assessed before and one month after the program. Teachers reported quite high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety (12%, 8%, and 24%, respectively at severe to extreme severe level). Dysfunctional thought was found to be a significant predictor of stress, depression and anxiety after controlled for gender and age. Stress management behavior was predictive of stress after controlled for dysfunctional thought pattern, gender and age. More than 60% of participants reported that they learnt to think more rationally; about half of them agreed that the program enhanced their confidence in managing stress. More than half agreed that the program helped them to explore new way of managing stress and they were planning to use new way to manage work-related stress. Practical issues of participant recruitment and facilitation of group discussion in the program will also be discussed.