Effectiveness of an occupational health awareness program in two groups of foreign language teachers
Keywords:
Health promotion, awareness raising, occupational health, foreign language teachersAbstract
Introduction: Despite the aforementioned consensus on the importance of teacher occupational health, the specialized literature highlights the lack of research evaluating preventive interventions in the educational area in general and less so in the subgroup of foreign language teachers.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an occupational health awareness program in two groups of foreign language teachers in terms of strengthening the perception and knowledge of risk and promoting self-care practices in the workplace.
Material and Methods: A longitudinal, non-experimental study was conducted from January 2024 to January 2025, using an online survey before and after implementing an occupational health awareness program in 35 foreign language teachers from eight educational institutions and the ESPOCH and UNACH universities in the province of Chimborazo.
Results: Overall, all the results obtained in the research suggest that the implemented awareness program was more effective among high school teachers than among the university group.
Conclusions: An educational strategy focused on raising awareness and empowering teachers regarding the factors that affect their occupational health can generate positive and measurable effects at the psychological and organizational levels. In particular, it highlights a decrease in emotional exhaustion and perceived stress, as well as an improvement in the recognition and coping with psychosocial factors at work. This finding is especially relevant in the context of contemporary education, characterized by high levels of work pressure, increasing bureaucratic demands, and limited institutional support for teacher occupational health.
Downloads
References
1. World Health Organization. Occupational health: A global perspective. Geneva: WHO; 2023.
2. Cervantes-Rodríguez M, Peña F. Estrés académico y fatiga vocal en docentes de lenguas extranjeras. Rev Iberoam Psicol Trab Organ. 2021;18(1):70–84.
3. Fernández L, Ramírez J, Soto G. Riesgos psicosociales y salud laboral en docentes universitarios. Psicol Soc. 2022;34(3):121–36.
4. Hakanen JJ, Bakker AB, Schaufeli WB. Burnout and work engagement among teachers. J Sch Psychol [Internet]. 2024 [Citado 25/03/2025];48(1):35–48. Disponible en: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022440505000890
5. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC). Estadísticas laborales: condiciones de empleo y salud en el trabajo. Quito: INEC; 2023.
6. World Health Organization. Global strategy on occupational health for all. Geneva: WHO; 2021.
7. Puiggros A. Educación y poder: los desafíos del próximo siglo. La Habana: CLACSO; 2001.
8. Roldán J, Camargo A. Salud ocupacional y bienestar docente: una mirada desde América Latina. Educ Desarr Soc. 2020;14(3):123–40.
9. Tabares-Díaz YA, Martínez-Daza VA, Matabanchoy-Tulcán SM. Síndrome de Burnout en docentes de Latinoamérica: Una revisión sistemática. Univ Salud [Internet]. 2020 [Citado 25/03/2025];22(3):265-79. Disponible en: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?pid=S0124-71072020000300265&script=sci_arttext
10. Tabares-Díaz YA, Martínez-Daza VA, Matabanchoy-Tulcán SM. Síndrome de Burnout en docentes de Latinoamérica: Una revisión sistemática. Univ Salud. 2020;22(3):265-79.
11. León-Pérez JM, Notelaers G, León-Rubio JM. Factores organizacionales y salud psicológica en el trabajo: una revisión sistemática. Rev Psicol Trab Organ. 2021;37(2):75–85.
12. Velázquez NRP. Clínica psicodinámica y el análisis del sufrimiento en el trabajo. Perspect Psicol [Internet]. 2024 [Citado 25/03/2025];21(1):147-61. Disponible en: http://200.0.183.216/revista/index.php/pep/article/view/711
13. Peña-Jiménez M. Transformaciones y problemáticas emergentes en el mundo del trabajo: Una mirada desde la ciencia psicológica. Rev Puertorriqueña Psicol [Internet]. 2023 [Citado 25/03/2025];34(3):316-9. Disponible en: https://repsasppr.net/index.php/reps/article/view/911
14. Martínez-Rodríguez F, Guzmán-Yacelga P. Prevención de riesgos laborales en contextos educativos: avances y retos. Salud Educ. 2021;27(2):67–79.
15. Cedeño M, Solórzano M. Estrés laboral y burnout en docentes ecuatorianos: un estudio exploratorio. Rev Cient Educ Salud. 2023;10(2):45–58.
16. Merino-Soto C, La Cruz G, Fernández-Arata M. Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey’s abbreviated measurement: validation in Peruvian teachers. Occup Health Sci [Internet]. 2023 [Citado 08/02/2025];7:631-44. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-023-00149-9
17. De Beer L, Van Der Vaart L, Escaffi-Schwarz M, De Witte H, Schaufeli W. Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey. Eur J Psychol Assess [Internet]. 2024 [Citado 08/02/2025];40(5). Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000797
18. Zábrodská K, Mudrak J, Šolcová I, Květon P, Blatný M, Machovcová K. Burnout among university faculty: the central role of work–family conflict. Educ Psychol [Internet]. 2018 [Citado 08/02/2025];38:800-19. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2017.1340590
19. Rocha F, De Jesús L, Marziale M, Henriques S, Marôco J, Campos J. Burnout syndrome in university professors and academic staff members: psychometric properties of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory–Brazilian version. Psicol Reflex Crit [Internet]. 2020 [Citado 08/02/2025];33:1-10. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-020-00151-y
20. Koğar E, Koğar H. A systematic review and meta-analytic confirmatory factor analysis of the perceived stress scale (PSS-10 and PSS-14). Stress Health [Internet]. 2023 [Citado 08/02/2025];40(1):e3285. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3285
21. Roy R. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) in professors who are teaching online: a pilot study. J Adv Res Dyn Control Syst [Internet]. 2020 [Citado 08/02/2025];12:526-9. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.5373/jardcs/v12i7/20202035
22. Morales C, Herrera R. Percepción de riesgos laborales y autocuidado en docentes ecuatorianos. Rev Investig Educ. 2021;19(1):93–105.
23. Herman KC, Reinke WM, Eddy CL. Advances in understanding and intervening in teacher stress and coping: The Coping-Competence-Context Theory. Journal of school psychology [Internet]. 2020 [Citado 25/03/2025];78: 69-74. Disponible en: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022440520300017
24. Gregersen T, MacIntyre PD. Language teacher well-being. En: Oxford R, ed. Peacebuilding in language education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters; 2020. pp. 89–104.
25. Ghasemi F, Herman KC, Reinke WM. A cognitive-behavioral approach to teacher burnout: A randomized controlled trial of a group therapy program. Anxiety Stress Coping [Internet]. 2022 [Citado 25/03/2025];36(4):533-41. Disponible en: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10615806.2022.2103118
26. Daniilidou A, Platsidou M, Gonida E. Primary school teachers resilience: association with teacher self-efficacy, burnout and stress. Electronic Journal of Research in Education Psychology [Internet]. 2020 [Citado 25/03/2025];18(52): 549-82. Disponible en: https://ojs.ual.es/ojs/index.php/EJREP/article/view/3487
27. Maslach C, Leiter MP. The truth about burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1997.
28. Salmela-Aro K, Upadyaya K. School burnout and engagement in the context of demands–resources model. Br J Educ Psychol. 2014;84(1):137–51.
29. Chang ML, Taxer J. Teacher emotion regulation strategies in response to classroom misbehavior. Teach Teach. [Internet]. 2021 [Citado 25/03/2025];27(5):353-69. Disponible en: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2020.1740198
30. Niemiec CP, Ryan RM. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory Res Educ. 2009;7(2):133–44.
31. Fernández-Berrocal P, Extremera N. The role of emotional intelligence in adult learning and education. En: Illeris K, ed. Contemporary theories of learning. New York: Routledge; 2009. pp. 175–86.
32. Vargas MA, Rojas MA. Evaluación de riesgos psicosociales en docentes: análisis desde el ISTAS 21. Rev Salud Pública. 2018;20(3):320–7.
33. Cohen S, Janicki-Deverts D. Who's stressed? Distributions of psychological stress in the United States in probability samples from 1983, 2006, and 2009. J Appl Soc Psychol. 2012;42(6):1320–34.
34. Emerson LM, Leyland A, Hudson K, Rowse G, Hanley P, Hugh-Jones S. Teaching mindfulness to teachers: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Mindfulness. 2017;8(5):1136–49.
35. Jennings PA, Greenberg MT. The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Rev Educ Res. 2009;79(1):491–525.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Eduardo Robalino Layedra, David Antonio Ureña Lara, Irma Paulina Robalino Layedra, Mauricio Santiago Robalino Yambay
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All the content of this magazine is in Open Access, distributed according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License that allows non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction without restrictions in any medium, provided that the primary source is duly cited.
Download PDF
