Occupational stress and coping strategies among teachers in Mampong Senior High Technical School for the Deaf

Abstract

This qualitative study examined the perception of occupational stress, its impact and coping strategies among teachers of Secondary Technical School for the Deaf in Mampong Akuapem Municipality of the Eastern Region. The study utilised a phenomenological design and collected data through interviews and focus group discussions with 16 teachers who had at least three years of teaching experience in the school. The data were analysed using themes generated from the responses. The findings revealed that the teachers perceived their source of occupational stress to emerge from the physical environment, social relationship between teachers and students and communication challenges. The stress experienced by the teachers affects their health and job performance. Coping strategies adopted by the teachers included seeking social support, ignoring the stressors and managing the stressful situation. The study recommended that there should be enough professional development programmes to build the capacity of teachers, these professional developments should include people management skills. The study further recommended that teachers should be given the opportunity to teach in subject areas in which they have specialised. This will go a long way to minimize stress among teachers of Secondary Technical School for the Deaf.