Assessment of Salivary Cortisol and Perceived Stress in Teachers

Abstract

Background: This study aimed at correlating the levels of salivary cortisol and perceived stress in male teachers, in three periods of the academic year (March, July, December). Methods: The collection of saliva for cortisol measurement was performed at 6:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 5:30 p.m. on the same day that the BPSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale, Brazilian version) was applied. The total concentration of cortisol was calculated using the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg). Results: When comparing the periods of the academic year, the mean stress score obtained in the month of March (16.46 ± 5.36) and December (17.54 ± 6.56) showed a significant difference compared with the mean results obtained in July (10.77 ± 5.64; p g value showed no significant difference between the periods analyzed (1.145 ± 0.450 µg/dL, 0.916 ± 0.341 µg/dL, and 1.031 ± 0.374 µg/dL, respectively). When analyzing the correlation between BPSS-10 values and total salivary cortisol throughout the school year, no statistical significance was found according to Pearson correlation coefficient (p = 0.554). Conclusions: The results suggest that the teachers, during the vacation period, might not perceive the physiological reactions of stress, so these reactions were not identified by the BPSS-10 used.