Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies among Secondary School Teachers in a Divisional Secretariate, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abstract Background Secondary school teachers face more problems due to the misbehavior of pupils, curricula changes, demands placed on them to fulfil duties and responsibilities, difficulty in work-life balance, and the lack of teacher enhancement programs. These problems may cause anxiety, stress, depression, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Therefore, this research aimed to assess secondary school teachers' psychological distress and coping strategies. Methods A total of 164 secondary school teachers were selected using a convenience sampling strategy through snowball sampling from the Mawanella divisional secretariate. The participants completed the General Health Questionnaire-30 and the Brief COPE questionnaire, both of which have been validated in the Sri Lankan context. Spearman correlation and Man-Whitney U- Test were performed. Results The results showed that most (N = 162) secondary school teachers experience psychological distress and are affected by social dysfunction (M = 6.7). Simultaneously, the participants experienced anxiety (M = 5.6), loss of confidence (M = 4.8), depression (M = 2.9), and insomnia (M = 1.5). All participants used all three coping strategies; however, it was seen that all the participants mostly used avoidant coping strategies (M = 19). Furthermore, the results revealed that emotion-focused coping strategies reduced psychological distress in all the participants. Problem-focused coping strategies (p = 0.056) and avoidant coping strategies (p = 0.017) did not result in any changes in psychological distress in the participants. The Mann‒Whitney U Test showed no statistical significance between males and females in experiencing psychological distress (p = 0.130). Conclusion The participants experienced psychological distress, which was expressed through social dysfunction. Emotion-focused coping strategies were commonly used to address psychological distress. Furthermore, no gender difference was seen in experiencing psychological distress.