Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

814

Date

2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Leadership and Policy Studies

Concentration

Educational Leadership

Committee Chair

Larry McNeal

Committee Member

Reginald L Green

Committee Member

E. Renee Sanders-Lawson

Committee Member

Charisse Gulosino

Abstract

Job stress in school staff is a concern for school systems and has an impact on many organizational factors within the school setting. The extent to which school personnel are aware of their stress, coping mechanisms and coping strategies is the focus of this study. The literature review highlights various aspects of stress including the physiology of stress, economic implications, specific job stressors in the field of education, burnout indicators for teachers, principal's awareness of stress, and coping strategies available and reportedly used by school staff.Three job type groups participated in the study: principals, teachers, and support staff. The study focuse don school staff's awareness and perceptions of stress, in addition to coping mechanisms available and reportedly used. A researcher designed online survey instrument entitled the Awareness of Stress and Coping Strategies was used to collect data. A suburban school district in the Mid-South region of the United States was the population studied. There were 211 participants who took part in this study of which 53.6% (n = 113) were teachers, 26.5% (n = 56) were administrators, and 19.9% (n = 42) were support staff. Most participants were female (87.2%). Men represented 12.8% of the participants.Findings from the analysis revealed that there were no significant differences in the perception of stress by job role groups: principals, teachers, and support staff. However, there were statistically significant differences in what stressors were believed to cause the most stress between all three role groups; notable to mention is that a common stressor of satistical significance was interaction with parents. Principals and support staff similarly ranked coping mechanisms; yet, principals and teachers were more inclined not to participate in coping strategies as often as support staff.There is a need to increase stress management opportunities to assist school personnel to meet the changing demands of the education profession. School personnel at the building level must understand how stress impacts their job as well as their ability to carry out their jobs. Principals must take the lead in promoting stress management awareness and coping strategies in order to improve school personnel well-being.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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