Teachers' Beliefs on Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders as a Predictor of Stress

This correlational, quantitative study examined the relationship between the stress teachers experience when educating students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in an integrated classroom, and the beliefs the teachers have regarding this role. This study focused on the problem that high levels of stress in teachers have a substantial negative impact on the psychological and physiological health of teachers, on the teacher's ability to create a safe and positive environment for learning, on the progress of students, and on the education system in general. The purpose of this study was to explore the correlation between teachers' beliefs along the pathognomonic v. interventionist continuum and teacher stress and determine if teachers' beliefs and demographic variables predicted stress or interacted in the prediction of stress. Data was collected through an on-line survey that contained questions from the Teacher Stress Inventory and the Interview Coding Form, as well as demographical information. The participants for this study were Alberta teachers who are employed full time in the publicly funded grade one to twelve school system, taught students with EBD in an integrated classroom, and voluntarily completed the on-line survey. The data were analyzed using initially Pearson product-moment followed by a multiple linear regression analysis across all participants using the Enter and Step-wise Methods for all variables. A statistically significant moderate negative correlation was found between teachers' beliefs on the pathognomonic v. interventionist continuum and teacher stress with teachers' beliefs accounting for 10.5 percent of the variation in teacher stress. Recommendations for increasing interventionist beliefs and an increase in teacher training on inclusion were discussed.