An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teachers' Voice Disorders and Psychosocial Working Conditions

Objectives: The goals of this epidemiological paper are focused on studying teachers' vocal complaints, their voice pattern, and the impact of voice disorders on psychosocial working conditions. Patients: A representative stratified random sample of 282 teachers from kindergartens and elementary schools was studied. Two types of self-report questionnaires were applied: an inquiry about teachers' occupational voice profile, and the adapted Spanish version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (ISTAS-21). Pearson's chi(2) test was performed to search for statistical associations. Results: 62.7% of subjects were experiencing occupational voice disorders; these teachers showed significantly worse psychosocial conditions than their healthy voice colleagues. Conclusions: Occupational voice disorders affect more than 60% of teachers and have an impact on their psychosocial working conditions. Interdisciplinary work is essential to shed light on these multifactor mechanisms and effects. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel