Teachers’ Heart Rate Variability and Behavioral Reactions in Aggressive Interactions: Teachers Can Downregulate Their Physiological Arousal, and Progesterone Favors Social Integrative Teacher Responses

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

the article turns out to be very interesting and the topic current. I really appreciated it. A management approach for violence against healthcare workers has been developed at Bambino Gesù Childrens’ Hospital. If possible, I ask for the opportunity to cite the following article: ”The Management of Workplace Violence against Healthcare Workers: A Multidisciplinary Team for Total Worker Health® Approach in a Hospital. Di Prinzio RR, Bondanini G, De Falco F, Vinci MR, Camisa V, Santoro A, De Santis M, Raponi M, Dalmasso G, Zaffina S. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 23;20(1):196. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010196. PMID: 36612518; PMCID: PMC9819087.”

Thank you for the opportunity of choosing me as a reviewer.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to read this work. I found the study interesting, and the findings added to the literature on the effect of aggressive student behaviours on teachers' physiological and psychological reactions. In doing so, this study highlights the importance of strengthening teacher resources and helping to develop strategies to cope with aggressive student behaviours.

Below, I leave some comments and suggestions, hoping to help improve this work.

INTRODUCTION

« Teachers face unstructured problems, dynamic situations, and multiple demands (Doyle, 1986).» What do the authors mean by “unstructured problems”? I suggest giving some examples of “unstructured problems, dynamic situations and multiple demands”. Please also give some examples of “external pressure” (see lines 42-44).

Concerning the topic of “Risk Factors and Resources,” I recommend strengthening the theoretical background using the Conservation of Resources Theory, which offers a framework to understand responses to stress, suggesting that stress emerges from situations involving threatened loss of valued resources.

Holmgreen, L., Tirone, V., Gerhart, J., & Hobfoll, S. E. (2017). Conservation of resources theory: Resource caravans and passageways in health contexts. The handbook of stress and health: A guide to research and practice, 443-457.

In addition, concerning the distinction between risk factors and resources, I recommend the Job Demands-Resources Model (JDR model), which implies two causal processes: the health impairment process and the motivational process.

Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands‐resources model: State of the art. Journal of managerial psychology, 22(3), 309-328.

Lesener, T., Gusy, B., & Wolter, C. (2019). The job demands-resources model: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies. Work & Stress, 33(1), 76-103.

Dicke, T., Stebner, F., Linninger, C., Kunter, M., & Leutner, D. (2018). A longitudinal study of teachers’ occupational well-being: Applying the job demands-resources model. Journal of occupational health psychology, 23(2), 262.

METHODS

The reliability of the work satisfaction scale was .65. Since the measure is composed of five items, I suggest that the authors observe if the scale reliability increases if an item is deleted.

DISCUSSION

«Thus, a way to protect teachers from unfavourable physiological stress reactions is to encourage them to seek positive experiences outside of work and to create a supportive school environment, especially regarding support by the school administration.»  (lines 622-624) The authors could strengthen these recommendations using the literature on the importance of recovering experiences and the JDR model.

Virtanen, A., De Bloom, J., & Kinnunen, U. (2020). Relationships between recovery experiences and well-being among younger and older teachers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 93, 213-227.

Kinnunen, U., De Bloom, J., & Virtanen, A. (2019). Do older teachers benefit more from workday break recovery than younger ones?. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 4(1), 7, 1-15.

CONCLUSIONS

 

«Thus, teacher education appears well-advised to strengthen the teacher’s coping resources and strategies regarding aggressive student behavior.» Adding some examples of teachers’ coping resources and strategies regarding aggressive student behaviour will be crucial. In addition, I think that in the conclusion section, it would also be interesting to add the importance of perceived support from other teachers and the school administration in preventing unfavourable physiological stress consequences in teachers. Moreover, it will be essential to add some examples of practices that could be implemented to increase the teachers' perception of support from peers and school administration. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In the introduction, the authors provide key previous studies to support the needs and objectives of the study. However, it could benefit from providing examples to support lines 136-137. In addition, teachers' responses to aggressive students vary curturally. Therefore, it is recommended to add the curtural aspects of teachers' reactions to the aggressive students in the introduction. 

 

It is recommended that more recent references be added to the Introduction. 

 

Please clarify "hotspot classes" in line 262.

 

The sample size for the psychological analyses is small. Please justify the sample size. 

 

In lines 261 to 268, the authors need to provide more clarification on how we define or classify students as aggressive. 

 

In the self-report sections, justify the use of self-developed scales when there are scales available to measure the study variables.

 

It would be beneficial to provide more practical implications for teachers and school administrators. 

 

Discuss non-significant findings of the study and their potential theoretical and practical implications.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have addressed my previous comments and suggestions. I have nothing more substantial to add. Congratulations on the work.