Page 79 - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

INOVACIJE I IZAZOVI U OBRAZOVANJU I SESTRINSKOJ SKRBI - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

Sources of Stress Among Teachers in Medical Schools –

Research Results in the Republic of Croatia

Stress is present in all professions. In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced
that in the future one in four people in the world will have mental or neurological problems as
a result of stress at work. Since then, stress has increased significantly due to the deepening
global crisis, unemployment and the corona virus pandemic. Lazarus and Folkman (2004)
define stress as a relationship between a person and his environment and point out that stress
represents such a relationship in which a person estimates that the demands of his environment
are too great and that they threaten his well-being, while Grant (2007) defines stress at work as
a state when people cannot meet the requirements of the environment. Teachers certainly belong
to the group of very stressful occupations, as shown by numerous studies. A teacher spends a
lot of time in front of a group of students who are not very motivated for classes, so the teacher
has to play several roles at the same time: a parent who supports, a leader who disciplines and
sets assignments, a motivator who stimulates learning and a person who represents a source of
information. In addition, the teacher needs to communicate with the school administration,
students' parents, management and other bodies of the school and educational institutions, so
his academic and professional freedom is violated by many demands. Despite the stress, the
teacher should always be in a good mood, cheerful and optimistic, without expressing negative
moods, even if he has been exposed to many inconveniences for a long time.
The sources of stress among teachers are multidimensional because there are many sources of
stress, such as a bad attitude of students towards school, lack of motivation, disobedient
students, class discipline, poor working conditions that have been defined by earlier researches.
But the question arises as to what are the main sources of stress in medical schools, and that is
precisely why this research was conducted in the Republic of Croatia. Although teachers are
exposed to different sources of stress, research has shown that teachers are satisfied with their
work and that they like what they do, but it is necessary to act on the sources of stress in order
to reduce the sources of stress and increase the satisfaction of teachers in their work.

Key words: teachers, high school, medical school, sources of stress

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