Extent of School-Related Stress Occurrence among Secondary School Teachers in Anambra State: Implication for Health Counselling

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue V, May 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

Extent of School-Related Stress Occurrence among Secondary School Teachers in Anambra State: Implication for Health Counselling

Juliana Azuka Akuezuilo, Ifeanyi Mathew Azuji

Department of Guidance and Counselling, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Akwa, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract – School-related stress has become a noteworthy issue and of serious concern to scholars and stakeholders in education. This study determined the extent of school related stress occurrence among public secondary school teachers in Anambra State. Specifically, the study sought to determine the extent to which school related stress is associated with instructional delivery and social support/climate work domain of teachers. The study was carried out in Anambra State of Nigeria using a descriptive survey design. The sample comprised of 1,574 teachers drawn from a population of 5,634 teachers using a multi-stage sampling procedure. A validated instrument titled “Extent of Occurrence of School-Related Stress Inventory for Teachers was used for data collection. The instrument has reliability coefficient of 0.60 and 0.80 for the two clusters. Data collected were analysed using SPSS. Summated scores and percentages were used to answer research questions. Findings revealed that most secondary school teachers experienced school related stress associated with instructional delivery and social support/climate work domain to a high extent. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the school management should focus intervention at a targeted area where the highest school-related stress occurred. Intervention efforts should therefore be channeled at helping secondary school teachers’ deal with the job demand in the domain which often leads to stress.

Keywords – Stress, school-related, occurrence, teachers, secondary school, counselling, Anambra State.

I. INTRODUCTION

Stress today has become a worldwide phenomenon and occurs in various forms in every workplace. It is today a common element in any kind of job and many organizations in the world are witnessing an alarming increase of the negative effects of it on employee’s productivity and wellbeing. This perhaps could be the reason why school related stress has become a noteworthy issue and of serious concern to scholars and stakeholders in education. The prevalence of school related stress sometimes could arise from teachers’ enthusiastic pursuit of better academic performance of students in a wide range of subjects, and this has attracted ample research attention. For instance, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE, 2018) survey of self-reported work-related illness indicated that more than half a million individuals were suffering from stress or a stress related disorder caused or made worse by stressors at work.

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