We cannot be "forever young," but our children are: A multilevel intervention to sustain nursery school teachers' resources and well-being during their long work life cycle

• Published in: PloS one 2018-11, Vol.13 (11), p.e0206627
• Main Authors: Sottimano, Ilaria, Guidetti, Gloria, Converso, Daniela, Viotti, Sara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Aging; Aging - psychology; Apathy; Biology and Life Sciences; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - prevention & control; Children; Counseling; Data analysis; Data processing; Exhaustion; Female; Health problems; Humans; Hygiene; Intervention; Life cycle engineering; Life cycles; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental Fatigue - etiology; Mental Fatigue - prevention & control; Middle Aged; Multilevel; Occupational health; Organizational aspects; Pain; People and Places; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; School Teachers - psychology; Schools; Schools, Nursery; Social interactions; Social Sciences; Social Support; Stress; Sustainability; Teachers; Voice Disorders - etiology; Voice Disorders - prevention & control; Well being; Work stations; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206627

The aging of workers generally implies an increased number of workers with health problems or psychological diseases because of the growing distance between personal resources and job demands; the first may decrease, while the second are stable. In the preschool setting, the demands remain constant because children are always aged 0-3 years, while the preschool teacher's personal resources decrease with age. It is, therefore, necessary to propose multilevel interventions aimed at supporting work sustainability and workers' resources. This study involved twenty-seven preschools (324 teachers with an average age of 48.7 years): the control group included seventeen schools (190 teachers with an average age of 48.5 years), five schools were assigned to experimental group one (69 teachers with an average age of 48.8), and five schools were assigned to experimental group two (65 teachers with an average age of 49.1). In this context, we proposed two protocols of multilevel intervention comprising three solutions; two of these were common to both experimental groups: psychological counseling and psychosocial intervention. The third solution differed between groups: environmental redefinition (for group one); gymnastic and vocal hygiene (for group two). We hypothesized that the interventions improve teachers' work abilities, increase well-being, and decrease stress and burnout. Furthermore we hypothesized that there would be an improvement in the organizational climate of trust and in social job resources. Data analysis showed that the interventions were effective. In particular, the experimental groups reported significant decreases in psychological exhaustion (EG2: ß = -1.48; p = .00), indolence (EG1: ß = -1.36; p = .00), and stress (EG2: ß = -0.94; p = .00). Furthermore, the experimental groups significantly increased their enthusiasm towards work (EG2: ß = 1.21; p = .01), vertical trust (EG1: ß = 0.54; p = .01), and the perception of coworker social support (EG2: ß = 0.54; p = .01). The protocol that involved the GC2 was particularly effective. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention in a particular job setting (preschool classroom), emphasizing the need for implementing solutions aimed at supporting workers' well-being, especially in light of an aging workforce.