Psychological violence as work trauma

The central concern of this study was to investigate the prevalence, severity, source and impact of psychological violence as work trauma in the workplace among teachers in the Lesotho secondary and high schools mixed method research design was used to gather data for the study. It emerged from the findings that psychological violence has a huge impact on the health of teachers as observed in the health problems they presented.The sources of psychological violence were the management of schools to a large extent,followed by colleagues including subordinates and parents and Ministry of Education and students to a lesser extent. On the basis of the findings guidelines for teacher support and health promotion were developed. The view was to address teachers'concerns and eliminate psychological violence in the workplace.The guidelines also sought to mitigate the impact of psychological violence on the health of teachers through specific strategies that can be employed at the national and school levels.

Autorentext

Malineo A. Matsela obtained a PhD in Educational Psychology from the North West University (Potchefstroom Campus)in South Africa. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations at the National University of Lesotho.