A Phenomenological Exploration of U.S. K–12 Educator Trauma Responses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Educational Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Research on trauma in education has focused primarily on the student experience (Felitti et al., 1998; Finkelhor et al., 2015) while the prevalence, scope and impact of trauma in the lives of educators remains largely unexplored. Unfortunately, the same rings true during times of COVID-19. This is concerning given trauma’s adverse physical and mental health risks, including impaired cognitive and emotional function, adoption of maladaptive behaviors, chronic disease and increased mortality (Holter, Marchionni & Bhatt, 2020). The purpose of this study was to address the gap in our understanding of the prevalence, scope and impact of trauma on educators both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, our findings provide a foundation for future exploration into the best ways of mitigating educator trauma in general and, more specifically, alleviating the toll COVID-19 has more recently taken on educators. The following research questions were addressed in our study:
● How prevalent is primary and secondary trauma in the lives of educators?
● How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted educator trauma?
Method
A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) was used in which quantitative data from a national survey of educators and qualitative data from follow-up interviews were analyzed. The survey instrument explored trauma in educators' lives through Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (Felitti et al., 1998; Finkelhor, 2015), several items related to the types of trauma experienced, and the impact of trauma. The survey was distributed through social media platforms and to an existing email listserv of ~35,000 rural, suburban and urban educators that spanned 19 states, including the 10 most populous. A total of 1,194 responses were obtained. To enhance the survey results (Tashakkori, Burke Johnson & Teddlie, 2020), semi structured interviews have been conducted with 10 respondents at the time of this submission.
Results
We found that more than 75% of survey respondents who answered questions regarding their ACEs (n = 964) reported at least one ACE, and 36.1% reported four or more ACEs, which indicates a greater risk of adverse mental and physical health outcomes (Holter, Marchionni & Bhatt, 2020). More than half of responding educators (54.9%, n = 953) indicated that they believed they have experienced Educator Secondary Trauma (EST) as a result of their students’ trauma, and of those, 21.1% report experiencing EST to a “large” or “very large” extent. Subsequent interviews provided additional insight to these results, as well as a deeper understanding of COVID-19’s impact. One educator, Tasha, explained that the restrictions necessitated by COVID-19 greatly increased her students’ anxiety, many of whom viewed school as a safe haven from an unstable, and in some cases dangerous, home life. Witnessing the increased anxiety and suffering of her students left Tasha feeling “helpless” to assist “her kids.” The secondary trauma experienced by Tasha resulted in hair loss, weight gain and insomnia - all attributed by her physician to high levels of stress. A similar pattern of increased trauma, a feeling of helplessness, and a resulting emotional and physical toll was found in nearly all of the interviews.

Author

• Robert Jason Lynch, Appalachian State University