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

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 and 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 disturbance 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.

Zusammenhang von Belastungen der Lehrpersonen und Eltern mit reaktiver und proaktiver Aggression der Kinder: Bedeutung von Emotionsregulation und kooperativem Verhalten

“…Während Verhaltensauffälligkeiten als Ursprung von Belastungen der Lehrpersonen und Eltern immer wieder analysiert wurden (Amstad und Müller 2020 ), postuliert die vorliegende Analyse einen Kreisprozess (Bottiani et al. 2019 ; Crick und Dodge 1994 ), wonach Verhaltensauffälligkeiten von Kindern zu Belastungen von Lehrpersonen bzw.…”

“…Viele Studien zeigten Effekte von aggressivem Verhalten im Unterricht auf die Belastungen der Lehrpersonen und Eltern (Amstad und Müller 2020 ; Podolski und Nigg 2001 ; Siekkinen et al. 2013 ).…”

Challenging behaviour in students with intellectual disabilities: the role of individual and classmates' communication skills

“…Such behaviour can be associated with decreased social inclusion among peers and often poses challenges for other people in the social environment, including parents, caretakers and teachers (e.g. Tomanik et al 2004;Brunsting et al 2014;Amstad and Müller 2020). In special needs schools, which are attended only by children with ID, such problems are particularly pronounced (e.g.…”

“…2004; Brunsting et al . 2014; Amstad and Müller 2020). In special needs schools, which are attended only by children with ID, such problems are particularly pronounced (e.g.…”

Forming and Sustaining High-Quality Student–Teacher Relationships to Reduce Minor Behavioral Incidents

“…These struggles can be intensified by the occurrence of high rates of student misbehavior. Addressing problem behaviors in the classroom can take time away from critical academic instruction and results in increased teacher stress (Amstad & Müller, 2020; Haydon et al, 2018). Moreover, there is a negative relationship between increases in student behavior problems and teacher-reported well-being (Evans et al, 2019).…”