The background biopsychosocial status of teachers with voice problems

Objective: The aim of the study was to explore the background biopsychosocial status of teachers with a relative voice handicap. The Study also intended to investigate this biopsychosocial status in relation to behavior of not always reporting voice complaints. Methods: This research was a cross-sectional survey, performed using questionnaires: a general voice questionnaire, the Voice Handicap Index (VHI), and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). The focus of the study is on those teachers who score the highest and the lowest on the SCL-90 as they report a higher or lower level of overall physical and psychosocial dysfunction. Fifty-five teachers score in the lowest quartile and 51 teachers score in the highest quartile of the total score of the SCL-90 (N = 106 teachers). The upper quartiles of SCL-90 scores are mentioned as "high scores" and the lower quartile scores are mentioned as "low scores". VHI scores above the 75th percentile are referred to as "high voice handicap" and VHI scores below the 25th percentile are referred to as "low voice handicap". Results: Subjects who had a high voice handicap have a greater relative risk for a high score on all the subscales (ORs between 2.1 and 20.2) and total score (OR = 12.5) of the SCL-90. Teachers who had a high voice handicap and who did not report voice complaints have a greater relative risk for a high score for all the subscales (ORs between 1.8 and 24.5) and total score (OR=22.4) of the SCL-90. Conclusion: The voice handicap and the behaviour of nonreporting of voice complaints when having a voice handicap appear to be in relation to the biopsychosocial status of the teachers. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.