Stress management among student-teachers with orthopaedic impairments in colleges of education in the Eastern Region, Ghana

Abstract

Globally, education policies and laws provide frameworks for a least restrictive education for all persons, including those with orthopaedic impairments. However, curriculum designers and implementers often lack an understanding of the stressors of these student and has occasioned insufficiencies in accommodations to ensure that these students attain their educational goals as much as practicable. The Study assessed the stressors that are experienced by student-teachers with orthopaedic impairments in colleges of education in Ghana. The study adopted the qualitative research approach and a phenomenological case study design. Data were generated using semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling technique was used to identify the research sites while census sampling technique was used to determine the inclusion of the respondents. The techniques were employed to sample four (4) respondents from four (4) colleges in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Data generated were analysed qualitatively and thematically, and the results were presented in a descriptive form. Verbatim quotations were used to describe responses intermittently. It came out that the student-teachers with orthopaedic impairments encounter several forms of stressors. For instance, the students have financial burdens, labeling by regular students, and heavy course loads. Some of the sources of stress cited by the students include, but not limited to, execution of basic chores such as fetching water, participating in co-curricular activities, and the unfriendly nature of the colleges’ physical environment. Some of the effects of the stresses confronting student-teachers with orthopaedic impairments include frequent change in behavior, abnormal and antisocial lifestyles including mood swings and other health issues. Additionally, there is loss in concentration, and excessive use of drugs. Among the coping strategies adopted by the students to surmount their challenges include use of sleep and relaxation techniques, and time management techniques. The study recommended that management of Colleges of Education have to make frantic efforts in sourcing scholarship schemes and other financial aids for the students with orthopaedic impairments while making the college environment accessible for all students, ensuring a multiplicity of social activities, and making water and accessible to all areas of their campuses.