Teachers’ Occupational Stress and Coping Mechanisms

Abstract

Teachers often experience high levels of stress in their work, but they are equipped with effective coping mechanisms to navigate through it. This study aimed to explore the relationship between teachers' occupational stress and coping mechanisms in public elementary settings. It sought to assess occupational stress based on working, living, and subjectrelated conditions while also evaluating teachers' emotion-focused and problem-focused coping mechanisms. Additionally, it aimed to establish significant relationships between occupational stress and these coping mechanisms. A descriptive correlational involving 145 public elementary teachers in Opol-West District, Misamis Oriental, utilized universal sampling. The study utilized an adapted and modified instrument from Cayao and Arenga (2021) and achieved a reliable Cronbach alpha of 0.855 to validate the survey questionnaire. Statistical tools, including mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation coefficients, were employed to analyze the data. Results showed that teachers feel some stress in their living conditions, but report challenges bring extreme stress. They also have moderate stress from subject-related conditions. It was concluded that teachers wanting to grow professionally can occasionally add stress to their overall work pressure. It was recommended that, implement strategies for teachers by coming up with better ways to submit reports.