Helping professionals working to alleviate the effects of violence and injustice can confront morally injurious experiences (MIE) that violate deeply held moral values/beliefs, placing them at risk for burnout and trauma-related problems (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]). Focusing on 257 teachers from educational departments throughout El Salvador, we incorporated structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine (1) whether exposure to MIEs for this population (e.g., betrayal, witnessing harm to an innocent student) are directly linked with higher PTSD symptomatology and work-related burnout and (2) whether MIEs contribute to these outcomes via meaning made of trauma. SEM results revealed that MIEs were in fact uniquely linked with PTSD symptoms and burnout, above and beyond rates of direct victimization and demographic factors. In addition, greater MIEs were indirectly linked with study outcomes via the extent to which teachers were able to make meaning of their identified stressors. These findings support the importance of screening for MIEs among helping professionals and also suggest that meaning making could serve as a central mediating factor for how MIEs contribute to trauma-related problems among persons working to promote peace and justice in the world.

Community violence has reached concerning proportions in El Salvador, possibly affecting all sectors of society. To date, little attention has focused on the effects of violence exposure on educators in Central American countries. This study examined the relationships between lifetime community violence exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and burnout in 2 independent samples of elementary and high school teachers in El Salvador—Study 1 ( N = 193) and Study 2 ( N = 257). Findings indicated that teachers across both samples were exposed to multiple violent events over their lifetimes. Results of 2 separate regression analyses with bootstrapping indicated significant indirect effects of violence exposure on burnout through PTSD symptomatology across these independent samples. These results suggest that teachers who were exposed to more frequent lifetime violence were at greater risk for occupational burnout, and this link was partly attributable to PTSD symptomatology. These findings implicate teachers’ exposure to violence as a potentially disruptive influence in educational settings and underscore the need for developing strategies for training and support of teachers in El Salvador and other educators working in high violence, postconflict Central American settings.

It is well established that the importance assigned to a trauma can affect one's recovery and psychological health in numerous ways. Event centrality is an increasingly popular construct that captures the tendency among survivors to reevaluate and possibly accommodate their worldviews posttrauma. The centrality given to trauma appears to serve as a "double-edged sword" in that this construct might factor prominently in both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Focusing on 257 violence-exposed teachers from educational departments throughout El Salvador, we examined whether the centrality assigned by the teachers to stressful life events uniquely predicted both PTSD symptomatology and PTG. Results revealed that event centrality was positively related to both PTSD and PTG, even when controlling for demographic factors, violence exposure, and depression. In addition, PTSD symptomatology and PTG were not associated with one another in this sample. In summary, these findings support the role of event centrality as a contributing factor for PTSD and PTG among persons exposed to pervasive trauma.

Teachers in violent communities are at risk for breakdowns in global meaning, burnout, and a number of psychiatric consequences. Using a Spanish version of the Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES-S), this study provided a preliminary test of the instrument and examined the role of meaning made of a salient Stressor among a sample of 257 teachers from ElSalvador who had experienced a variety of possible traumas and stressful life events. Study participants completed a one-time questionnaire with the ISLES-S, history of violence exposure and other background concerns, and a number of related constructs from the positive psychology and spirituality literatures. Psychometric results indicted evidence of concurrent validity and supported a two-factor structure for the ISLES-S with items loading on both a Comprehensibility factor (gauging meaning made via assimilative processes) and a Footing in the World factor (gauging meaning made via accommodative processes). In addition, when controlling for demographic factors, violence exposure, and related constructs, teachers ' ability to make

Unprecedented gang violence in El Salvador places children and their families at high risk for experiencing multiple traumas. The influence of lifetime exposure to community violence on parenting practices and parent–child relationships among Salvadoran parents was examined using a mixed-methods approach. Thirty-six parents and primary caregivers of elementary school children living in urban areas of El Salvador participated in 4 focus groups and completed the Los Angeles Community Violence Checklist ( LACVC). All participants reported direct exposure or witnessing at least ≥2 violent events ( M = 6; SD = 2.58), indicating substantial direct and indirect lifetime exposure to violence. Predominant themes in the group discussions included parents’ experiences with the past civil war, the unpredictable nature of current community violence and its negative effects on children and parent–child relationships, as well as the adaptive and maladaptive parenting practices employed to raise their children in violent contexts. Parents also underscored the need for professional psychological support for their children and positive parenting education. Possible implications for clinical practice with Central American parents living in El Salvador and in the United States are discussed.