| Abstract [eng] |
The article analyses the data of an empirical study revealing the contexts of sources of occupational stress for teachers and educational support specialists. In order to analyse the experience of specialists, a questionnaire was compiled, the statements of which were formulated on the basis of the analysis of scientific (theoretical and empirical) research on occupational stress. In the most general sense, the factors causing stressful situations can be named as internal-personal and external-social. Personal micro-level stressors include experienced failures, fears, emotional tension in the close environment, inability to control emotions, psychosomatic experiences. The authors attribute dangerous professional activities, constantly changing juridical-legal requirements, managerial problems, payment, prestige of the profession, changes in the labour market, high workload in the institution, difficult professional and interpersonal relationships with colleagues and administration, fear, anxiety, suppression of feelings, little support from family members to social macro factors. Qualitative and quantitative studies of occupational stress and the research strategies used reveal the expression of stress in different professions, the variety of stressors, their duration, and possible consequences in professional activities. On the other hand, the analysis of the characteristics of stress and the factors causing it in the modern social context full of tension is becoming more and more relevant. A number of stress coping questionnaires have been developed, however, there is a lack of questionnaires on stressful situations, sources of stress and stressors. The research aims to reveal the sources of occupational stress of teachers and educational support specialists. Research instrument. In order to study the factors causing occupational stress of teachers and educational support specialists, a questionnaire was constructed using the scientific research conducted by the authors. Analysing the authors’ research, overlapping groups of stressogenic sources that cause stress to professionals and hinder successful functioning in the professional space emerge. On that basis, the authors’ original questionnaire was compiled, which consists of 25 statements covering various stressful situations: psychosomatic, health difficulties, suppression of negative emotions, pressure, tensions at work, workload, importance of family and close relationships. An online questionnaire submitted on the www.apklausa.lt platform was used to collect research data. The questionnaire was distributed in educational and training institutions in Lithuania. In total, 205 respondents participated in the study: 104 are teachers, 27 are school administration employees, 74 are educational support specialists. After meeting the requirements for the validity of the content of the questionnaire, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed with the SPSS AMOS plug-in. Research results and conclusions. According to the questionnaire of occupational stress sources, compiled by the authors on the basis of the analysis of literature sources, referring to the exploratory and confirmatory statistical analysis of the study data in the context of this sample, five diagnostic subscales were identified (workload, relationships with children who are difficult to raise and educate, colleagues, close people and negative emotions). After reducing the number of statements on the basis of the aforementioned statistical analysis, it can be said that it is suitable for both group and individual research on stressogenic sources. The revealed connections between sources of occupational stress of teachers and educational support specialists revealed strong connections between interpersonal relationships with close people and colleagues and workload and weak connections with problematic students in the context of this sample. |
