Measuring Stress in School-Based Prevention Research: Associations Between Physiology and Self-Report Indicators of Educators' Health and Wellbeing

Measuring stress in school-based prevention research:  associations between physiology and self-report indicators of educators’ health and wellbeing

Educators are exposed to a variety of stressors, which can lead to poorer teaching performance, burnout, and increased student misbehavior (Bauer et al., 2007; Osher et al., 2007; Tsouloupas et al., 2010). Although self-report measures of stress are most commonly used in school-based prevention research, physiological measures of stress may also contribute to our understanding of educators’ stress, as well as their responsiveness to interventions designed to reduce stress and promote well-being.

The allostatic load model suggests that greater cumulative stress burden can influence stress-responsive physiology and lead to a variety of health issues. Current research has focused on a multisystem approach that examines multiple biological factors including blood pressure, cortisol, immune function contributing to one metafactor identified as allostatic load (Seeman, et al., 2010). Numerous studies have found relationships between dimensions of allostatic load and a broad range of physical and psychological disorders. 

Physiological measures of stress are gaining popularity in prevention research because of their assumed objectivity. However, self-report and physiological measures of health/stress are not always consistent with one another (Brant et al., 2010).  This inconsistency is noteworthy, given that the field currently relies primarily on self-report. Understanding where these measures diverge or overlap could help prevention researchers determine whether physiological measures that are costly are worthwhile to incorporate into studies related to well-being. 

In this study, 64 educators from 2 middle schools in Pennsylvania participated in an evaluation of an intervention involving yoga and mindfulness. This poster examines baseline data consisting of an online survey, in person assessments and saliva collection. Participants provided physiological measures for allostatic load calculations (height, weight, blood pressure) and saliva samples at 4 time points (waking, 30mins later, lunchtime, bedtime) during a typical work day.  Saliva samples were assayed for cortisol, alpha amylase, C-Reactive Protein and DHEA-S.  In addition to examining these measures individually, a composite score representing each participants’ allostatic load is calculated using recommendations found in Seemans et al. (2010).  This presentation will examine associations between physiological measures including allostatic load and self-report measures of perceived stress and burnout.  Discussion will focus on the added value of using physiological markers of health, in addition to self-reports, for conducting prevention research on domains of health.