Subjective Representations of the Health of Preschool Teachers

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective.</strong> The study of subjective representations of the health of preschool teachers. <br><strong>Background.</strong> Subjective representations of health are an individual psychological instrument of well-being influencing objective achievements in personal, social and professional life. Subjective representations of the health of preschool teachers are both an important factor for their professional activities and the characteristics of the educational environment for children. Research on subjective representations of the health of preschool teachers is important because it may affect the development of children's attitudes towards their health. <br><strong>Study design. </strong>The study is dedicated to subjective representations of health and their relationship with stratification variables and components of psychological well-being in the PERMA model. Analytical approaches included descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, analysis of variance, cluster and correlation analyses. <br><strong>Participants. </strong>The main sample included 1537 preschool teachers aged between 21 and 74 years with work experience from 1 year to 55 years, with secondary or higher education. All participants live in the Russian Federation. <br><strong>Method.</strong> The study was conducted online using the PERMA-Profiler questionnaire, adapted for the Russian-speaking sample. Subjective representations of health include the cognitive self-assessment of health, satisfaction with own&rsquo;s health, social comparison of own&rsquo;s health with peers. The information about socio-demographic characteristics (age, level of education, work experience, place of residence, marital status, number of children) was also collected. <br><strong>Results. </strong>The perception of the health of preschool educators consistent between own&rsquo;s cognitive self-assessment of health, satisfaction with health and social comparison with the health of other people. Subjective representations of the health of preschool teachers are characterized by positivity and optimism. These representations do not depend on the level of education, place of residence, geography of the region of residence, number of children, marital status, but are related to age and work experience. The highest indicators of subjective representations of health were found among older educators. <br><strong>Conclusions<em>. </em></strong>Subjective representations of health have a positive connotation and are associated with the psychological well-being of preschool teachers. Involvement in pedagogical activity contributes to positive representations of the health of educators, especially in old age.</p>