Effects of stress management program for teachers in Japan: a pilot study

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a stress management program for teachers on their stress responses, social support, and coping. Participants (n=24) were assigned to either an intervention or a waiting list control group. A five-session program, including psychoeducation, group discussion, role-playing and relaxation training, was conducted for the intervention group at two week intervals. Eight participants from each of the groups responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaire surveys. The positive intervention effect was significant for social support from co-workers (p=0.035), whereas the negative intervention effect was significant for proactive coping (p=0.033). No significant effect was observed for stress responses (vigor, anger, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and somatic stress responses) (p>0.05). The positive intervention effect was marginally significant for social support from co-workers (p=0.085) and anger (p=0.057) among those who at first had high stress response scores in the pre-intervention survey (n=5 and n=4 for the intervention and waiting list control groups, respectively). Furthermore, the positive intervention effect was significant for social support from co-workers (p=0.021) and marginally significant for resignation coping (p=0.070) among those who at first had high job control scores (n=4 and n=5 for the intervention and waiting list control groups, respectively). Results showed that the stress management program conducted in this study contributed to increasing social support from co-workers. This study suggests that a program that focuses on a particular subgroup (e.g., those with high stress responses or high job control) might be effective in enhancing coping skills, increasing social support, and reducing stress responses.