Working conditions of female parttime and fullti

Authors: Reingard Seibt Annerose Matz Janice Hegewald Silvia Spitzer

Publish Date: 2011/10/29

Volume: 85, Issue: 6, Pages: 675-687

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Abstract

Teacher’s volume of employment and health status are controversially discussed in the current literature This study focused on female teachers with parttime versus fulltime jobs in association with working conditions and health status depending on ageA sample of 263 parttime and 367 fulltime female teachers average age 467 ± 78 vs 460 ± 63 participated in an occupational health screening Specific work conditions stressors job historyquestionnaire and effort–reward–imbalance ratio ERIQ were measured and their relationships to mental and physical health were analysed Health status was quantified by complaints BFB questionnaire general mental health status GHQ12 and cardiovascular risk factorsOn average teachers in parttime positions reported 36 and in fulltime positions 42 h per week The effort–reward ratios were significantly associated with the volume of employment Teachers in parttime jobs had only a slightly lower ERIratio There were no differences between fulltime and parttime teachers regarding health status Eighteen percentage of both groups reported impaired mental health GHQ ≥ 5 48 of parttime teachers and 53 of fulltime teachers suffered from high blood pressure Low physical fitness was observed in 12 of parttime and 6 of fulltime teachers In this study neither the volume of employment nor working conditions were found to be significantly correlated with health statusThe data were collected as part of the nationwide network project ‘HEALTH PROMOTION FOR TEACHERS’ that is a part of a model programme for combating workrelated diseases As a matter of legal succession it is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs while its technical and scientific guidance is in the hands of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health BAuA in Berlin We are grateful to Dr Uwe Rose BAuA who supervised the design of the whole model project and repeatedly gave valuable advice The participation on the preventive occupational–medical and psychological checkup was voluntarily for all teachers We informed the participants about the aims and methods of the study All participants gave their written informed consent They had always the possibility to break off their participation without any consequences The data were made anonymous and treated in a secure and strictly confidential manner The necessary ethics committee approval was secured by the Sächsische Bildungsagentur

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