Prevalence of disphonia in teachers of elementary schools of Yazd city Iran, and their knowledge and practice to it

Teaching in schools is known as a work hazard causing voice disorders and is also associated with job satisfaction and performance. The object of this study is to investigate the knowledge and prophylaxis behaviors and the rate of disphonia in elementary school teachers of Yazd. This descriptive- analytic study was conducted on 280 teachers (140 men, 140 women) that were chosen from 2 education areas of Yazd city, Iran by simple sampling method. The data were collected by a questionnaire which its validity and reliability were established. The data were analyzed by using SPSS software and some tests, like Analyze Variance, t- test (P˂0.01). The prevalence of this disease was 55.4%among the teachers and the most common form was stiffness of larynx. The knowledge of teachers was in average. There was a significant correlation between education levels of samples and their knowledge. The knowledge of teachers with bachelor degree or higher than it, was more than others (P<0.02). It was seen a significant correlation was observed between teaching hours and sex (P<0.04) and the knowledge of women in preventive measures was more than men. The results showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between the knowledge and preventive behaviors of participants (P<0.01) and those with higher scores of knowledge showed better preventive behaviors than others. High prevalence of this problem in teachers of elementary schools of Yazd city Iran shows that preventive behaviors in regard to disphonia is too poor. It is recommended to increase the awareness and performance of teachers through teaching sessions by experts to prevent and control the disorder.