Aim: Associations between the workload of
teachers and their health status are currently
the subject of controversial discussion in the
literature. The present study aims to analyse
associations between working conditions,
health status and personal age-related factors
for part-time and full-time teachers.
Method: During psychological-medical
health screening in various schools in Saxony
(Germany), a sample of 158 part-time teachers
and 206 full-time teachers (all females; average
age 46.3 ± 5.9 years) was studied. Specific
work conditions and stressors (job history
questionnaire) and the effort-reward-imbalance-
ratio (ERI-Q) were recorded and their relationships
with physical and mental health,
personal factors and age were analysed. The
health status of the teachers was quantified
in terms of physical and mental health complaints
(BFB), cardiovascular risk factors (e.g.,
blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference,
physical fitness), as well as general
mental health status (GHQ-12) and components
of burnout syndrome (MBI-D). Furthermore,
two personal factors were considered in
our study: the (in-)ability to recuperate (FABAEU)
and the sense of coherence (SOC-L9).
Results: Part-time teachers reported an average
of about 36 total working hours per week
and full-time teachers 42 total working hours
per week. Part-time teachers have a lower
ERI-ratio than teachers in full-time positions
(0.58 vs. 0.64; p = 0.040). However, most
health status parameters did not indicate
differences between part-time and full-time
teachers. For all the participants in the study,
51 % of teachers had a high blood pressure,
30 % had a high waist circumference, 41 %
were overweight and 10 % had low physical
fitness. About 16 % of all teachers reported
impaired mental health (GHQ ≥ 5). Teachers
in part-time jobs reported a significantly
lower ability to recuperate (part-time: 25 %,
full-time: 18 %), whereas no group differences
were found for the sense of coherence (average
of 51 points). In this teacher sample there
was no relevant association between workload
and health status nor between working
conditions and health status, the effort-reward
relationship, however, was significantly
associated with the workload.
Conclusion: Although, there are quantitative
differences in the demands of their work,
there are not differences in health status between
part-time and full-time teachers.
