[Teachers' health - a challenge for an interdisciplinary prevention concept]

Abstract

The early retirement of teachers because of illness is presently a great social and sociomedical problem. In Bavaria, currently more than every second case of early retirement in the profession is the result of psychic or psychosomatic illness. The aim of all preventive measures must therefore be first of all the preservation or restoration of psychic health of teachers. With an underlying comprehensive biopsychosocial understanding of health and performance, preventive measures should take into consideration both circumstances and behaviour, as well as pathogenetic and salutogenetic aspects of the disease. The preventive concept developed under these premises is characterised by the terms interdisciplinary, multidimensional, integrative and institutionalised. Interdisciplinary means the concerted effort of all disciplines involved in the health of teachers. Multidimensional implies action at all levels of disease prevention and includes therapy and rehabilitation. Integrative stands for the formation of networks for optimising processes and the linking of interfaces in the sense of case/disability management. Institutionalised means the creation of structures for co-ordinating and controlling. In addition, potential areas of activity for those involved in prevention, in particular also occupational medicine, are described, resulting in an appeal that the insights gained may be translated into practical reality.