A tangle of psychological aspects in relation to the psychosocial impact of the voice in teachers

K. Geusens, I. Thielens,G. Thomas, F. I.C.R.S. de Jong

The aim of the study was to investigate psychological aspects in relation to the psychosocial impact of the voice in teachers. This research was a cross-sectional survey among 61 female Belgium primary school teachers using questionnaires, which included a general voice questionnaire, the Voice handicap Inventory (VHI),Type-D Scale-16 (DS16), Symptom check List (SCL-90) and Utrecht Coping List (UCL). Teachers with a relative high psychosocial impact (> 75^th percentile of the VHI scores) were compared to those with a relative low psychosocial impact (< 25^th percentile of the VHI scores). A significant higher percentage of Type-D personalitieswas foundamong teachers with a relative high psychosocial impact(p="0.036)." Teachers with a relative high VHI score had significant higher scores on the SCL-90 total and subscores (p="0.020-<0.001)," except for agoraphobia.Teachers with a relative high psychosocial impact showed a passive coping style compared to the active coping style of the teachers with a relative low psychosocial impact (p<0.05). This study demonstrates the relation between psychosocial impact of the voice and personality traits, psychoneuroticism and coping strategies and is a plea to create a wide individual profile in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of voice problems.

K. Geusens*, I. Thielens*,G. Thomas**, F. I.C.R.S. de Jong*
*Dep. ENT, Head and Neck Surgery - Lab. Exp. ORL, K.U.Leuven, Belgium
**Department of ORL, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands Karolien Geusens, karolien.geusens@student.kuleuven.be