Work-related Stress among the Academic Staff of the University of Education, Winneba Campus, Ghana.

Abstract

This study explored the causes and effects of work-related stress among the academic staff of the University of Education, Winneba (Winneba campus). Using a sequential explanatory mixed-method design, a structured questionnaire was administered to 50 lecturers who were randomly selected, while 15 of them were purposively selected for interviews. The researchers adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods in analysing the data. Means and standard deviations were used to analyse the questionnaire data, while the interview data were used to clarity issues as they emerged. The data highlighted several causes of stress among the lecturers, and these included excessive workload, insufficient preparation for lectures and difficulties in supervising students’ research projects. The study also pointed out that the effects of stress experienced by the lecturers included anxiety, inability to meet deadlines and ill-health. It, therefore, recommended that the university should employ additional lecturers so as to reduce the workload of individual lecturers; and  that the university should help them manage large class-size by considering  technology-based approaches, which would enable them to display teaching and learning materials on its website..

Keywords:   Stress, Workload, Lecturers, Ill-health, Research Supervision