Lower Work Engagement Is Associated with Insomnia, Psychological Distress, and Neck Pain among Junior and Senior High School Teachers in Japan.

Abstract

School teachers are subject to both physical and mental health problems. We examined cross-sectional relationships between work engagement and major health outcomes among junior and senior high school teachers in Japan via a nationwide survey in 2019-2020. A total of 3,160 respondents were included in the analyses (19.9% response rate). Work engagement was assessed with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 (UWES-9), and we thus divided the teachers into quartiles according to their UWES-9 scores. Based on validated questionnaires, we assessed insomnia, psychological distress, and neck pain as health outcomes. A binomial logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, school type, teacher's roles, involvement in club activities, division of duties, employment status, and whether they lived with family demonstrated that the teachers with lower UWES-9 scores had higher burdens of insomnia, psychological distress, and neck pain (odds ratios [95% confidence intervals] in 4th vs. 1st quartile, 2.92 (2.34-3.65), 3.70 (2.81-4.88), and 2.12 (1.68-2.68), respectively; all trend p<0.001). There were no significant differences in these associations between full-time and part-time teachers. Our findings indicate that low work engagement may contribute to physical and mental health issues among junior and senior high school teachers, thus providing insights for preventing health problems in this profession.