Health Risks of Higher School Teachers

Abstract

Health preservation of higher school teachers is an important task in the individual perspective as well as in the public one. Difficult social conditions, the specifics of professional activity have an impact on the health of teachers. Sociocultural risks that characterize the modern reality can lead to both health disorders and, consequently, to problems in professional sphere. This paper attempts to analyze the impact of sociocultural risks on the health-oriented behavior and professional activity of higher school teachers on the basis of empirical research data.

The aim of the study was to analyze the attitude to the health of higher school teachers and identify the risks of health-saving behavior.

Materials and Methods.

The concepts of risk society by W. Beck, E. Giddens, N. Luhmann and approaches to the sociocultural understanding of risk by A. Wildavsky, M. Douglas, and K. Dyck made it possible to identify sociocultural risks in the health sphere of higher school teachers. The social research was conducted among higher school teachers in Kursk and Belgorod universities, N=300, with the aim to study the impact of sociocultural risks on the health of higher education teachers. The research was conducted according to a specially developed questionnaire in September-October 2020 by means of the Internet survey.

Results and Discussion.

Sociocultural health risks of teaching staff can be understood as the expectation of the occurrence of events generated by both environmental conditions and professional ones that affect the health itself and change the established practices of health-oriented behavior. Sociocultural risks include occupational risks, such as expectations of negative consequences of changes in the field of professional activity, which can lead to changes in the health sphere. According to 89% of teachers, the specifics of their professional activities increase the negative impact of environmental factors and can contribute to the development of diseases. Significant risk factors are environmental problems, heredity, the complexity of the requirements for teaching activities and the digitalization of the educational environment.

Conclusions.

The impact of sociocultural risks on the health of higher school teachers is characterized by the complexity and can be expressed both in negative events and positive ones, contributing to the implementation of health-preserving behavior practices. Problems in the health sphere have an impact on the manifestation of subjectivity of teachers in the educational space.