Relationships Between Sense of Coherence, Self-perception of Voice and Work Environment Among Teachers

Abstract

Objective

to analyze the relationship between sense of coherence and sociodemographic data, remote physical work environment, and self-perception of symptoms, vocal handicap and vocal fatigue in teachers.

Methods

Seventy eight teachers pertaining to the municipal education network of a Brazilian capital city participated in the study, during the period of social isolation by COVID-19. An online questionnaire was applied with sociodemographic and physical remote work environment questions, the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13), the Brazilian Dysphonia Screening Tool (Br-DST), the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI), and the Vocal Handicap Index (VHI-10). Descriptive analysis, bivariate and multivariate Logistic regression models were performed to check the proportion of teachers with high and low SOC among the different categories of independent variables. Student's t test and Mann Whitney test were used to compare SOC, IDV, and VFI scores between the groups, and Hedge's g test was used to access the effect size. The total scores of SOC, VHI and VFI were correlated using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. All tests adopted a 5% significance level.

Results

Male teachers and those over 45 years old were, respectively, 6.79 (95%CI = 1.16-39.58) and 5.27 (95%CI = 1.40-19.76) times more likely to present a high SOC. The variables associated with a lower chance of presenting high SOC were vocal restriction (OR = 0.21; 95%CI = 0.06-0.79) and voice-related physical discomfort (OR = 0.13; 95%CI = 0.02-0.78). Regarding the remote work environment, in bivariate analysis, teachers who were dissatisfied with air quality (OR = 0.08; 95%CI = 0.01-0.65), temperature (OR = 0.11; 95%CI = 0.01-0.92), and noise (OR = 0.25; 95%CI = 0.61-0.99) were less likely to have high SOC. Higher values of SOC are associated with lower self-perception of vocal fatigue and voice handicap (P < 0,001).

Conclusion

The way individuals face stressful situations interferes with the self-perception of their voice and their work environment. The relationship between the sense of coherence and voice perception is relevant to favor programs to promote vocal health and stress management in teachers.