Teaching sports dance at universities is a demanding and stress-laden occupation, particularly for educators in Shaanxi Province, China. When sports dance teachers are subjected to occupational stress, they often suffer from physical and mental health issues, which not only impair their teaching performance but also negatively impact students' learning outcomes and overall development in sports dance. This study aims to identify and analyze the sources of occupational stress experienced by university sports dance teachers in Shaanxi Province. A qualitative research design, specifically a case study approach, was adopted. Six sports dance teachers from three universities in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants, and the interview data were manually transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the main sources of occupational stress for these teachers included heavy workload, insufficient professional support, inadequate teaching resources, external performance demands, challenges in student management, and personal professional development pressure. This study highlights the urgent need for targeted support measures to alleviate occupational stress among university sports dance teachers, thereby improving their well-being and the quality of sports dance education in the region.
Liu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.