Sekundarni povzetek: |
The purpose of this paper is to examine the health condition of special and rehabilitation educators working in schools that implement programmes with lower educational standards. Schools from Notranjsko-Kraška and Goriška regions were included in the research, represented by as many as 54 special and rehabilitation educators. The average age of the participants is 54 years, 16 years being the average years of service. The data were collected in the autumn of 2013, using a questionnaire that was adapted for the purposes of this research, the basis being Z zdravjem povezan življenjski slog (“Health-connected lifestyle”, CINDI Slovenia, 2008).
The basic aims of the research were: to find out how much do the special and rehabilitation educators exercise in their spare time; how do they take care of their health condition; whether they are usually under stress; during which parts of the school year do they feel particularly under pressure; whether they have ever noticed any signs of burnout and which is the most common health problem they suffer from. According to the received data the health condition of special and rehabilitation educators is reasonably good, which is in accordance with their claiming that they do take care of their health: mostly they do not smoke, they eat healthy food, the majority sleep from 6 to 7 hours per night and exercise regularly in their spare time.
The most common health problems are tiredness, cold, headache, insomnia, exhaustion and problems with digestion. Medically confirmed illnesses of the participants are: diseases and defections of the spine and joints, various allergies, hypertension and other illnesses (migraine, thyroid dysfunction, cardiac murmur etc.). Stress is part of our lives, including the special and rehabilitation educators. The incidence of stress with the majority of participants is occasional, however; one third of them claims to often suffer from it. The participants have various means at to cope with stress, the most common being exercise. Long-term stress can lead to burnout. As many as 64 % of the participants claim they have noticed signs of burnout. As part of their profession special and rehabilitation educators are prone to other pressures, which vary during the school year, however, mostly cumulate at the end of it. |