Students' Problem Behaviors as Sources of Teacher Stress in Special Needs Schools for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities

Meta Amstad,Christoph M Müller

doi:10.3389/feduc.2019.00159

Abstract

Students with intellectual disabilities in special needs schools often exhibit high levels of problem behaviors. Besides the challenges such behaviors present for the students themselves, their peers, and their caregivers, problem behaviors can also be a source of stress for teachers. However, less is known on the degree to which different types of problem behaviors are perceived as stressful in special needs schools for students with intellectual disabilities. Using paper-pencil questionnaires, 295 special needs school teachers (47.81 years, SD = 10.49; 83.4% female) in Switzerland ranked the perceived stressfulness (from 0 = not stressful to 3 = very stressful) of 93 student behaviors. These 93 behavior descriptions stemmed from the Developmental Behavior Checklist (Einfeld & Tonge, 1995). Results suggest behaviors endangering the student or others, such as kicking, hitting, biting, or talking about suicide, were rated as most stressful. Behaviors from the domain disruptive/antisocial behaviors were reported as most stressful and behaviors from the domain of communication disturbances as least stressful. Implications for work-related stress prevention in relation to different types of student problem behaviors for special needs school teachers are discussed.

Highlights

Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) often exhibit high levels of problem behaviors, such as self-injury, hyperactivity, aggression, stereotypies, anxiety, or impulsivity (Dykens, 2000)
This study sought to extend the literature on how stressful teachers working in special needs schools for individuals with ID perceive different types of student problem behaviors
The mean value of the scale used to assess the degree to which teachers perceive different problem behaviors as stressful was relatively low. At first glance this contradicts earlier findings suggesting that problem behaviors represent an important source of teacher stress (Male, 2003; Kokkinos and Davazoglou, 2009; Ghani et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) often exhibit high levels of problem behaviors, such as self-injury, hyperactivity, aggression, stereotypies, anxiety, or impulsivity (Dykens, 2000). Statistical reports suggest that problem behaviors occur three times more frequently in individuals with ID than in the general population (Dekker et al, 2002). Exhibiting high levels of problem behaviors is associated with increased risk of social isolation and unemployment (Stevens and Martin, 1999) and with a higher probability of being taught in special needs schools (Kurth et al, 2014). While teachers who work with students with ID face various challenges, such as a perceived lack of students’ progress or heavy workloads (Antoniou et al, 2000), dealing with students’ problem behaviors is one of the most frequently reported sources of stress for special needs teachers (Kokkinos and Davazoglou, 2009; Ghani et al, 2014). The more teachers perceive that a student’s behavior deviates from their instructional goals (e.g., because of the amount of time it takes to manage the problem behavior), the higher the intensity of unpleasant

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