SOMATSKE TEŠKOĆE KAO INDIKATORI STRESA I TEŠKOĆE GLASA KOD ODGOJITELJICA I NASTAVNIKA
SOMATIC DIFFICULTIES AS INDICATORS OF STRES AND VOICE DIFFICULTIES IN GOVERNESS AND TEACHERS

Summary/Abstract: The survey covered a sample of285 educational workers (governess and teachers) comprising the experimental group and 173 nonprofessional voice users comprising the control group. The purpose of the survey was to determine the occurrence of somatic difficulties as an indicator of stress and voice and speech difficulties, to determine whether there were differences in the occurrence of these difficulties in the groups of examinees and to determine the structure of difficulties in certain groups of vocal professionals (considering age, sex and smoking habits). Based on these data, we tried to establish if vocal and somatic difficulties were associated with stress and in what way. The examinees had to answer several questions regarding their own perception of voice/speech difficulties and somatic difficulties. The results have shown that educational workers (primary schools teachers and kindergarten teachers) are more likely to experience voice and speech difficulties (e.g. fatigue or voice loss, throat prickle, etc.) as well as certain somatic difficulties that may be triggered by increased stress (headaches, sleep troubles, chest pain, breath loss, tingle). Furthermore, the results have shown there is a connection between voice and speech difficulties and somatic difficulties and they occur more often in kindergarten educators than in teachers, with women being more susceptible than men. When it comes to examinees’ smoking habits, smokers appear to have fewer difficulties than non-smokers, which may seem illogical considering the risk smoking poses to our health. Since the survey has shown their subjective opinions and answers, it is possible that smoking (nicotine) reduces stress as well as the sensitivity of examinees giving them a sense of ‘good health’.

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