Occupational Stress and Coping Strategies among Autism Intervention Teachers in The Digital Era: Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The digital transformation of education has established new professional standards which teachers need to fulfill particularly those who work with students who have special requirements. Teachers who work with autism intervention programs face various sources of stress because they spend most of their time with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children while dealing with demanding parents and multiple work duties and rising dependence on digital tools. The research examines occupational stress levels and their sources and employees' coping mechanisms and their perceptions about stress effects which affect autism intervention teachers in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. The research team conducted a cross-sectional survey which involved 100 teachers who worked at autism intervention centers and inclusive educational facilities. The research used a structured questionnaire which contained 174 items to measure stress symptoms and work-related and environmental stress factors and coping techniques and stress outcome effects. The research team used SPSS 26.0 to conduct reliability analysis and descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis. The research findings indicated that participants showed little emotional stress but their physical and mental abilities displayed more evidence of stress than their emotional reactions and behavioral responses. The research results show that child and parent-related factors created the most significant stress while work policy factors and personal-family-social factors and digital technology-related stress followed in order of impact. The research showed that stress levels in general maintained positive relationships with all types of stressors which included digital technology-related stress and personal-family-social stressors at their highest points. Teachers used adaptive coping methods which included cognitive emotional regulation and problem-focused behaviors and technology-based coping strategies but they only rarely used maladaptive coping methods. People who experienced stress believed it caused more harm to their personal health and their general well-being than it did to their work performance. The research data indicates that teachers need organizations to develop complete systems which combine psychological assistance with digital tools for their mental health protection and to maintain successful autism intervention methods through digital technology.