SOURCES OF STRESS AND SUPPORT AMONG TEACHERS: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS AND ECOMAPS

Background: Teaching is considered one of the most stressful professions due to the number of responsibilities teachers have.Long-term stress often results in feelings of burnout, depersonalization, or exhaustion.Teacher support can have a significant impact on their well-being and performance, but can also impact students' academic development, including their affective and emotional outcomes.Therefore, identifying stressors and sources of support among teachers is essential to foster a healthier educational environment and improve overall educational outcomes.Aims: The aim of this study is to explore the main sources of support and stress that teachers experience, analyze the ways in which teachers recognize stress and its symptoms, and examine the quality of teachers' relationships mapped through their ecosystem.Methods: The study sample consisted of 25 teachers (mean age 45.5; 84 % female) from the eastern part of Slovakia who participated in four focus group interviews with an ecomap activity, which visually represents important relationships in their lives.The qualitative data from the interviews were analyzed using a six-step approach to thematic analysis.Ecomap data were evaluated through qualitative categorization of recorded relationships and quantitative assessment of their quality.Results: The thematic analysis of teachers' support revealed three main themes: support from the social environment, working conditions and demands, and specific sources as tools of teacher support.Thematic analysis of stress identified four main themes: Covid-19, teacher work, and other factors, including work-life balance, health, and social and political factors.The analysis also distinguished between physical and psychological responses to stress, which affect teachers' well-being and work performance.Furthermore, the results indicate that teachers' ecosystem is primarily formed through supportive relationships, although the work and its parts is the most frequent source of ambivalent or stressful relationships.Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of the support of the social environment, especially from school leaders and colleagues.Key stressors, such as time stress, bureaucracy, or student behavior, as the results of which teachers perceive their work as stressful, affect teachers' well-being and work performance.These findings emphasize the need to improve conditions and strengthen support for teachers, especially in the area of schools, which will contribute to their professional development, mental health, and performance in the educational process.