Evaluating job stress factors among secondary school teachers using fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)

Stress is defined as an individual’s struggle to manage challenges from their surroundings, leading to unhappiness and discomfort. Job stress is a mental and physical state that influences one's productivity, effectiveness, and well-being in the workplace. Individuals experiencing job stress may face negative emotional states and teachers are not exempt from encountering stress in their professional environment. Despite growing concerns, existing research lacks a structured, data-driven approach to analyze key stress factors. Thus, this study aims to identify and evaluate the primary causes and effects of job stress among secondary school teachers using a systematic decision-making approach. The fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method with Simplified Centroid Defuzzification (SCD) was applied to assess nine stress-related criteria which are job satisfaction, mental health, burnout, workload, environment discomfort, student’s behavior, role conflict, unrelated tasks, and personal problems. Data were collected through expert evaluations from three secondary schools. The findings indicate that mental health, role conflict, and personal problems were the primary causes of teacher stress, while the remaining factors were effects. Based on the distribution map result, mental health influenced all the effect criteria while job satisfaction, burnout, workload and student’s behavior have mutual relationship. Personal problem was categorized as isolated criteria since it was neither influenced by nor influencing other criteria. These findings provide valuable insights for educators, school administrators, and policymakers to implement targeted interventions. Addressing the right key factors that cause stress can improve teacher well-being, enhance job satisfaction, and contribute to a more effective education system.