The purpose of this study was to gather information about the demographic
variables and responsibilities of British Columbian itinerant teachers of the deaf
and hard of hearing, investigate if these teachers experience occupational stress,
determine the relationships between these variables and their stress levels, and to
determine which manifestations of stress were most prevalent for this population.
Two questionnaires were used in this study: the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI),
which was a standardized measure of stress, and the Itinerant Teacher
Questionnaire (ITQ), which was a self-created questionnaire to gather information
about demographics and itinerant responsibilities. The survey packages were
mailed during the months of May and June 1998, to 92 itinerant teachers of the
deaf and hard of hearing in BC, Canada. The response rate was 76% (n=70).
The demographic information and responsibilities of the typical BC itinerant
teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing were presented and discussed. This was the
first project of its kind in BC to examine these variables, and it has created a
database of information for further research and comparisons.
Using the TSI and its norms, it was determined that BC itinerant teachers of the
deaf and hard of hearing experience lower levels of stress than American teachers.
However, caution should be exercised when comparing BC itinerant teachers to the
norms, because the norms were collected from the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and
southeastern states of the US.
From the questionnaires and a multiple regression analysis, the predominant
sources of stress for these teachers were determined to be: work overload, lack of
time, high numbers of personnel worked with, poor ability to have rooms assigned
in a school, poor quality of rooms worked in, weather interference during travel,
and poor communication with school personnel.
Using the TSI, emotional (anxious, depressed, etc.) and fatigue (physical
exhaustion, weakness, etc.) manifestations of stress were the highest rated
symptoms of stress experienced by BC itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of
hearing.
Results, implications, concerns, and suggestions for further study are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8362 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Williams, Christine Sybilla |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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