SELF-REPORTED PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF OCCUPATIONAL VOICE DISORDERS AMONG SCHOOL TEACHERS IN SEKOTA TOWN WAG HIMERA ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA, 2021

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: School teachers have a high risk of developing occupational voice disorders, because they use their voice as their primary tool. There appears to be a high prevalence of voice disorders associated with work. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of occupational voice disorders among school teachers in Sekota town wag himera zone. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted as a self-administered questionnaire April to May 2021, and the VHI-10 scale was used to assess occupational voice disorders. School teachers (n=586) from all thirteen public schools in the Sekota town wag himra zone, north Ethiopia, participated in this study through census sampling. Epi-data version 4.6 was used to enter and clean the data. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to conducted to see the association of different factors with the magnitude of OVDs using SPSS version 25. And significance level was obtained at 95% CI with p-value< 0.05. Results: The response rate (N=586) was 92.1 %. Based on the Voice Handicap Index scale (VHI-10),the prevalence of OVDs among school teachers in the past 12-months was 21% (95% CI, (17.8-24.5)), while that in primary school teachers was 24.8%, was significantly higher than secondary school teachers 19.3%, teachers college 15.7%, and TVET 11.5%.In this study age [AOR:0.304, 95%CI (0.160-0.58)], rarely nasal allergy [AOR: 2.74,95% CI,(1.533-4.89)], sometimes nasal allergy [AOR:5.38,95% CI,(2.102-13.77)],teaching combined-grade 5th and 6th class [AOR: 5.64,95%CI(1.62-19.67)],sometimes speak over a natural breath cycle [AOR:3.94,95%CI, (1.30-11.90)],rarely drink alcohol [AOR: 6.28,95% CI (2.53-15.6), )], sometimes drink alcohol [AOR;3.27,95% CI (1.32-8.096),sometimes taking medications [AOR;9.52,95% CI,(1.82-49.86),sometimes stress and anxiety [AOR:2.32,95% CI,(1.041-5.15)], noise from children playing outside [AOR:3.05,95% CI,(1.45-6.43)] were significant association with occupational voice disorders. Conclusion This study concluded that occupational voice disorder is a common occupational hazard among school teachers in the study area that can greatly affect their performance and activities and most voice problems may be preventable. Therefore, we recommend developing prevention programs including preventive voice training and voice hygiene with sanitary work conditions to combat functional voice disorder among school teachers. Key words: dysphonia, occupational voice disorders, school teachers, voice handicap index-10