Mental Health of Teachers: Teachers’ Stress, Anxiety and Depression among Secondary Schools in Nigeria

Aim: This study explored the prevalence of teachers stress (TS), depression (D) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among selected secondary school teachers in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Method: In this descriptive cross sectional study, 471 primary school teachers were selected by a multistage sampling technique. Demographic information was obtained; the Teacher Stress Inventory was used to determine prevalence of teachers’ stress and MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview to determine prevalence of depression and GAD. All analyses were performed with the SPSS, 17.0.

Results: The prevalence of teachers stress was 72.2%, depression, 29.3% and GAD, 29.5%. Multivariate analyses show that female gender, OR 0.51, 95% CI (0.34-0.77), P = 0.002 was a protective factors against teachers’ stress; being a private school teacher OR = 0.06, 95% CI (0.01- 0.47), and being older than 29 years of age OR = 0.10, 95% CI (0.05-0.22), P = 0.007 were protective factors against depression; being married OR = 0.28, 95% CI (0.09-0.89), p = 0.03 and being older than 29 years of age OR = 0.23, 95% CI (0.11-0.45), P < 0.001 were protective factors against GAD.

Conclusion: Our results are suggestive of incorporating the teachers’ mental health program into the school health program.