Knowledge about voice hygiene of elementary and secondary teachers in Reka, Croatia

V teoretičnem delu magistrskega dela je obravnavano področje glasu, glasovnih motenj, dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na pojav glasovnih motenj. Posebno pozornost sem namenila pojmu vokalnih profesionalcev, še posebej sem izpostavila učitelje kot vokalne profesionalce. Izpostavila sem tudi poklicne bolezni ter skrb za glas oziroma glasovno higieno in njen pomen. Dotaknila sem se tudi različnih raziskav, narejenih v svetu in v Sloveniji, ki se osredotočajo na glasovne motnje pri učiteljih kot tudi različnih raziskav o glasovni higieni. Empirični del se osredotoča na poznavanje skrbi za glas oziroma glasovne higiene pri učiteljih osnovnih in srednjih šol. Ker raziskave kažejo, da so pedagoški delavci najpogostejši bolniki z motnjami glasu in ena najbolj ogroženih populacij za pojav glasovnih težav, hkrati pa med formalnim izobraževanjem ne pridobijo znanja o glasovni higieni, se moja magistrska naloga osredotoča prav na področje glasovne higiene in ozaveščenosti o dejavnikih, ki vplivajo na kakovost glasu. S tem želim tudi doseči, da bodo učitelji in profesorji bolj ozaveščeni o pomembnosti poznavanja glasovne higiene in jih spodbuditi k upoštevanju napotkov skrbi za glas. Uporabila sem anonimni vprašalnik o poznavanju različnih dejavnikov, ki vplivajo oziroma ne vplivajo na glas, prirejen po avtorjih Kovačić in Buđanovac. Za posamezne trditve o dejavnikih, ki bi lahko vplivali na glas, so učitelji označili, ali trditev drži, ne drži ali pa »ne vem«. Na podlagi raziskave je bilo ugotovljeno, da je skupina 150 učiteljev osnovne in srednje šole pravilno odgovorila na 23 trditev v 66%. Čeprav je 81% učiteljev končalo pedagoško smer študija, pa jih je samo 8 imelo predavanja o glasovni higieni v času študija. Učitelji s pedagoško smerjo študija so pomembno slabše odgovarjali na 3 trditve v vprašalniku ter imeli slabši skupen rezultata kot tisti brez pedagoške smeri študija (p=0,005). Učitelji, ki so kadarkoli v karieri prejeli informacije o skrbi za glas, so statistično pomembno boljše odgovarjali na 4 postavke, tudi njihov celoten rezultat je bil statistično boljši kot pri nasprotni skupini (p=0,000). To je potrdilo tudi značilno manjše število odgovorov »ne vem« v skupini, ki je dobila informacije o skrbi za glas. Med učitelji osnovne in srednje šole smo našli značilni razliki le pri dveh postavkah, vendar to ni predstavljajo pomembne razlike glede skupnega rezultata vprašalnika. Učitelji z več kot 20 let delovne dobe so pomembno pravilneje odgovarjali na 4 postavke, statistično značilno boljši je bil tudi njihov skupni rezultata (p=0,004), kar je potrdil tudi korelacijski koeficient. Ženske so pokazale značilno boljše poznavanje glasovne higiene kot moški (p= 0,000). Učitelji so pokazali približno enako poznavanje vpliva prehrambenih navad in glasovnih navad na glas. Vsi pridobljeni rezultati nakazujejo na ogromno potrebo po uvajanju izobraževanja o glasovni higieni in pravilni rabi glasu že med študijem ali vsaj med zaposlitvijo v poklicu z glasovno obremenitvijo, saj to posredno vpliva na zmanjšanje glasovnih motenj pri učiteljih. Pridobljeni rezultati bi morali tudi vzpodbuditi zaskrbljenost logopedom in ostalim strokovnjakom, katerih naloga je pomagati učiteljem in ostalim vokalnim profesionalcem za večjo ozaveščenost o glasovni higieni.The theoretical part of the master\u27s thesis deals the field of voice, voice disorders and factors which impact the occurrence of voice disorders. I focused on vocal professionals, and I especially emphasized teachers as vocal professionals. I also emphasized occupational disorders and voice care, namely voice hygiene and its significance. Furthermore, I touched upon various studies, done worldwide and in Slovenia, centred on voice disorders among teachers as well as voice hygiene. The empirical part of the thesis focuses on the acquaintance with voice care or voice hygiene among primary and secondary school teachers. Research points to the fact that, while not acquiring knowledge of vocal hygiene during their formal education, pedagogical workers are the most commonly affected group with voice disorders and one of the most at-risk populations regarding the occurrence of voice problems. Therefore, my master\u27s thesis focuses specifically on the field of voice hygiene and the awareness of factors which affect voice quality. By asking them questions about vocal hygiene, I also want to make teachers and professors more aware of the importance of getting acquainted with voice hygiene and encourage them to consider guidelines for voice care. I used an anonymous questionnaire on the level of knowledge of various factors which impact or do not impact voice, according to the authors Kovačić and Buđanovac. For individual claims regarding factors which could potentially affect voice, teachers indicated whether they found each claim true, false or stated "do not know." Based on the research, it was found that a group of 150 primary and secondary school teachers answered 23 statements correctly in 66%. Although 81% of teachers completed the pedagogical study programmes, only 8 had lectures on vocal hygiene during their study. The teachers who completed pedagogical study programmes had significantly worse results in solving 3 claims in the questionnaire and had a worse overall result than those who did not complete pedagogical study programmes (p = 0.005). Teachers who received information on voice care at any stage in their career were statistically significantly more successful in solving 4 claims, and their overall result was statistically better than the one from the opposite group (p = 0,000). This was also confirmed by a significantly lower number of "do not know" answers. We found a distinction between primary and secondary school teachers only within 2 claims, but this did not represent any significant difference in the overall result of the questionnaire. The teachers with more than 20 years of experience were significantly more successful with solving 4 claims and statistically had a significantly better overall result (p = 0.004), which was also confirmed by the correlation coefficient. Female participants displayed significantly better knowledge of voice hygiene than male participants (p = 0,000). Teachers displayed approximately equal knowledge of the impact of dietary habits and voice habits on voice itself. All the obtained results indicate that there is an enormous need to introduce training in voice hygiene and proper use of voice during study or at least after employment, as this indirectly affects the reduction of voice disorders among teachers. Furthermore, the obtained results should encourage concern in speech therapist and other professionals in order to help teachers and other vocal professionals to become more aware of the importance of voice hygiene