Occupational Stress and Coping Mechanism among Special Education Teachers

Quennie Erica  Mar,; Celina Tria  Cañoneo,; Nelia  Tolon,; Louisse Bianca  Facundo,; Liezl Niña  Loguinsa-Lismoras,

Occupational Stress and Coping Mechanism among Special Education Teachers

Quennie Erica Mar | Celina Tria Cañoneo | Nelia Tolon | Louisse Bianca Facundo | Liezl Niña Loguinsa-Lismoras

Discipline: Psychology

Abstract:

In the recent years, job stress in teachers has been a subject of interest for some researchers but no studies were conducted that focused on SPED teacher. Thus, this study was done to determine the possible causes of stress among special education teachers and how they cope up with stressful situations towards their line of work. The study sought to discover the dominant coping mechanism which was highly applicable to the participants and also if there is a significant association between the level of stress and dominant coping mechanism among special education teachers. This study employed a descriptive-correlational research design where the significance of relationship was sought between the occupational stress and coping mechanism among special education teachers. Pearson r was used to analyze the data gathered from a total of 49 respondents from the six private and public institutions that cater special education. The study revealed that the participants were stressful in terms of control, and support. Also, it appeared that they were occasionally stressed in terms of the demands, relationships, role and the change. In terms of the evident coping mechanism, the participants appeared to be high in problem-solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support. Hence, they just moderately used express emotions, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism and social withdrawal as a coping mechanism. Data show that there is no significant association between the occupational stressors of the special education teachers and their coping mechanism. Further, this implied that in general, the coping mechanism that the participants have used has nothing to do with occupational stressors they experienced. Moreover, these coping mechanisms perhaps were applied to other concerns and not from the factors that were provided in the study.