A Systematic Review of Secondary Traumatic Stress and Compassion Fatigue in Teachers

Abstract

When teachers care for children with trauma histories, they are at risk of developing compassion fatigue (CF), or a reduced empathic capacity (Hupe and Stevenson in J Child Custody Res Issues Pract 16(4):364–386, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1663334 ). They may also develop secondary traumatic stress (STS), a secondary condition resulting from a person learning about details of a traumatic event experienced by someone in their care (Essary et al. in Kappa Delta Pi Record 56(3):116–121, 2020). While CF and STS have been studied widely in healthcare and mental health professionals (Baird and Kracen in Couns Psychol Q 19(2):181–188, 2006; Caringi et al. in Adv Sch Ment Health Promot 8(4):244–256, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/1754730X.2015.1080123 ; Cieslak et al. in Psychol Serv 11(1):75–86, 2014), STS and CF have been understudied in the teaching profession (Caringi et al., 2015; Christian-Brandt et al. in Child Abuse Neglect 110(3):104437, 2020; Hupe & Stevenson, 2019). As such, we sought to complete a systematic review of the literature to answer two questions: (1) To what extent are CF and STS being studied in teachers?; and (2) How have CF and STS been studied in teachers? Qualitative data analysis led to the emergence of four themes across all included studies: (1) conceptualization of CF and STS; (2) teachers are at risk of developing CF and STS; (3) varying approaches can mitigate the risk of CF and STS in teachers; and (4) there is limited research on CF and STS in teachers. Limitations and directions for future research and practice are described.

Transforming Empathy-Based Stress to Compassion: Skillful Means to Preventing Teacher Burnout

“…Research on the EBS strains have shown high levels of EBS among school personnel, including teachers, akin to levels found among mental health workers (Borntrager et al, 2012;Ormiston et al, 2022). Teachers who continuously work with students who have a history of trauma or hear about students' trauma experiences may experience EBS (Figley, 1995) Symptoms similar to PTSD, but from secondary exposure Secondary traumatization, secondary traumatic stress disorder Compassion fatigue Acute, affective phenomenon engendering high levels of stress after trauma exposure (Figley, 1995) Symptoms parallel original trauma victim's (e.g., avoidance, hyperarousal, numbing, sleep disturbances)…”

Compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress in teachers: How they contribute to burnout and how they are related to trauma-awareness

“…Secondary traumatic stress and Compassion Fatigue (CF) emerged as constructs from the healthcare and mental health professions (Sinclair et al, 2017) and have recently begun to be examined in the teaching context (Ormiston et al, 2022). Cieslak et al (2014) define CF as "a reduced empathic capacity or client interest manifested through behavioral and emotional reactions from exposure to traumatizing experiences of others" (p. 76).…”

“…Training in TIP in schools has also been shown to mitigate CF and STS levels in teachers (Peterson, 2019;Christian-Brandt et al, 2020;Anderson et al, 2021). In their systematic literature review on STS and CF in teachers, Ormiston et al (2022) suggested a two-pronged approach of creating a school system that enabled teachers to receive training and education related to TIP as well as creating a clear system of interagency collaboration with schools to provide opportunities for students to receive any interventions from mental-health specialists that they may need. They found that studies which looked at schools with these two approaches reported more positive feedback from teachers overall, although few studies explicitly linked TIP training with intent to leave the profession.…”

“…Many studies have been conducted into the impacts of teacher workloads (Green, 2018;Gavin et al, 2021) and increased external testing (Kruger et al, 2018), and governments are beginning to address concerns about teacher salary (Smail, 2022). However, while burnout in teachers has attracted considerable attention (Saloviita and Pakarinen, 2021), there is less known about the related constructs of CF and STS as they relate to teaching although these have been emerging in recent years as key constructs in understanding burnout (Ormiston et al, 2022).…”

Predictors of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among Australian teachers.

“…Exposure to traumatized students has been shown to have negative effects on teachers’ well-being and mental health (Rankin, 2021; Yang, 2021). Ormiston et al (2022) indicated that compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue are important factors to consider when assessing the impact of exposure to traumatized children on adults.…”