Violence in the school and voice disorders of teachers

Abstract

Aim: To verify the influence of school violence in the occurrence of vocal symptoms in teachers of the city of São Paulo. Method: questionnaire with 422 teachers related reference to vocal symptom and school violence. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test, where vocal disorder was the dependent variable and violence situations the independent variables. In order to verify whether these maintained significance, independently from sex and years of teaching, a multiple analysis through logistic regression was performed. Results: 60,0% reported having vocal symptoms, being the most frequently reported dry throat, hoarseness and strained speech. The most frequently mentioned violence situations were indiscipline, graffiti and fights. Inside the classroom, vocal disorder was statistically associated to threats towards the teacher (p=0,043), and in the school environment in general, to racist manifestations (p=0,029), aggressions (p=0,009), insults (p=0,029), violence at the school door (p=0,005), violence towards employees (p=0,042). All variables remained statistically associated to vocal disorder in the multiple analysis. Conclusion: Violence situations are associated to the presence of vocal symptoms in teachers, independently from age, sex and years of teaching factors.