Levels of stress amongst the school teachers in a public school of rural Western Maharashtra

Objectives: Teachers are among the professions reporting highest level of work-related stress, the study was undertaken to evaluate the levels of stress amongst school teachers in a public school of rural western Maharashtra Methods: Prospective survey based study was carried out amongst school teachers of rural western Maharashtra using Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ).The survey was carried out on 3 scheduled visits over a period of 2 months after the Institutional Ethical committee approval. Total 110 Primary and secondary school teachers, satisfying inclusion and exclusion criteria were randomly selected for the study. All the questions in the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) were graded according to 1 (Always-0), 2 (Sometimes-25), 3 (Often-50), 4 (Seldom-75) and 5 (Never-100). The scale value was calculated as the simple average. More the average score less the stress and vice versa Results & Conclusion: Inability to understand the meaning and importance of work, improper clarity about the job, inability to cope with the problems were found to be the factors always contributing to stress of teachers.