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Compassion Fatigue in Teachers:

An Annotated Bibliography

Jessica Fisher

Nebraska Wesleyan University

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Annotated Bibliography

Bosch, D. (2014). Understanding allostatic load. [Video]. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ9DzSzUpio

Dr. Don Bosch is a clinical psychologist at the Headington Institute, a nonprofit

organization focusing on psychological support for those who witness trauma. In this

video, Dr. Bosch defines allostatic load, why it is detrimental to your health in the long

run, and how resilience can combat it. Dr. Bosch compares and contrasts allostatic load

(psychological response to chronic stress) to homeostasis (process in which the body

maintains balance). Unlike homeostasis, the body does not recognize being in allostatic

load and is unable to stop being in that state. Resilience behaviors, such as coping

skills, can help allostatic load balance.

Although a clinical psychologist is providing information, he does not mention any

specific research studies where this information came from. The video only provides a

link to the Headington Institute website. Dr. Bosch, does not describe his credentials or

discuss others in this field of research. A strength of this video is the easy to understand

language.

I think this relates to stress and the effects on the body. It could be indirectly

related to my topic. The website could have helpful information, but I would need to

thoroughly review their sources.

Bourassa, D. (2012). Examining self-protection measures guarding adult protective services

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social social workers against compassion fatigue. ​Journal of Interpersonal Violence,

27(​ 9), 1699-1715.

Bourassa, an associate professor and director of the Department of Social Work

and Gerontology at Shippensburg University, describes a qualitative study of Adult

Protective Services (APS) social workers. The purpose of the study was to find out if

APS social workers experienced compassion fatigue. For the study, nine social workers,

ranging from 0-32 years of experience in urban counties, who also held a Bachelor’s

and/or Master’s Degree in Social Work, participated in three phases of semi-structured

interviews. The results of the study indicated the nine participants were not experiencing

compassion fatigue. Personal characteristics contributing to the lack of compassion

fatigue include the social worker’s education, history of crisis/trauma, sense of

achievement, job experience, and individual boundaries set to prevent burnout.

Professional factors contributing to the lack of compassion fatigue include coworker

support and lack of supervisor support. This study contradicted previous research in this

area. The author ends with limitations and future research ideas.

Weaknesses of the article is there were only nine participants, interviewers asked

open ended questions, and potential research bias. Strengths include the layout of the

paper, the precaution of limited research in this topic, and the descriptions of each

professional factor and personal characteristic contributing to the lack of compassion

fatigue.

I really liked this article. It was helpful to see the how a research paper is laid out.

It was easy to determine the research type, questions, methods, and results. This is a
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good example to follow when writing my paper next year. I need to save this one for

sure.

Buller, K., & Dolce, J. (2016). The future of compassion fatigue education: Working partnerships

with mental health professionals. ​International Association of Animal Behavior

Consultants.

Buller, a certified veterinary social worker, and Dolce, a certified compassion

fatigue educator, questioned the quality of compassion fatigue educators and the

misleading research related to the topic. The authors focused on compassion fatigue in

veterinarians. They discussed the fact that compassion fatigue is not a mental illness,

but if severe enough, can lead to a depression. In order to improve compassion fatigue

education, mental health counselors must work closely with compassion fatigue

educators. Educators and counselors would work together when determining the

development of educational materials, how and when to gather and assess possible

mental health supports, determining the needs of a potential patient and make referrals

to mental health providers. The article ends with how to find a compassion fatigue

educator who fits the needs of you/your organization as well as reflection questions for

compassion fatigue educators to review their ideas mental health support.

A weakness of this article was not tied to learning about compassion fatigue but

criticized those with knowledge of compassion fatigue. The title was misleading. There

was not an abstract, or additional resources to investigate. The article also had 2 polls at

the end, almost reflection questions for the reader. A strength was the authors were
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given a brief bio at the end of the article and links to their websites for more information

on themselves.

This was not a helpful article, but a good read. I now know more about

veterinarians mental health issues. If I were going to use this, I would share the

information about a mental health counselor and a compassion fatigue educator needing

to work together. I could also use their suggestions when looking into the quality of the

compassion fatigue educator.

Clement, M. C. (2017). Women, teaching, and stress: Five steps for coping. ​Delta Kappa

Gamma Bulletin, 83​(4), 39-41.

In the article, Clement acknowledges the stress related to the teaching

profession. She notes the majority of teachers are, in fact, women. The author also

discusses the difficulty of balancing work and family duties. Clement suggests five ways

of dealing with stress as a teacher. Developing a healthy lifestyle like eating right,

exercising, and getting enough sleep help to combat stress. Communicating clearly and

asking questions to administrators helps to reduce stress. Building a network of

supporters and joining in a professional learning community (PLC) are also suggested as

ways to reduce stress because you can connect with others having the same issues and

learning from others. The final strategy Clement offers is to do homework and work

ahead in order to reduce stress from being rushed. The author sums up the article by

telling readers to incorporate coping strategies and to communicate with others.

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The information about the author is limited, but does mention she is a professor

of teacher education and is a member of the Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma. The

article does not specifically mention any studies to prove validity of the coping strategies.

The author does not include a reference section. However, the author suggests three

inspirational teaching books. Based on this information, the article reads more like the

opinions of the author rather than a on a basis of research.This article acknowledges

teacher stress and offers suggestions. I would have liked to see more than a suggested

reading list. References and citations of studies and journals to support the author’s

opinions would have been ideal.

I will be looking into one of the suggested books that looks as if it narrowly relates

to my topic. This might be an article to share with staff members who want a quick read.

But overall it was not all that helpful to me and my research.

Fisher, P., & Cleghorn, M. (2013). Addressing workplace stress: A comprehensive wellness

imperative for individuals and their organizations. ​Huffington Post.

The authors discuss a plan to identify, assess, and address the amounts of

stress

in all aspects of one’s life. The authors describe in the detrimental factors related to

stress, such as a decrease in personal and organizational performance. As suggested,

one should take a comprehensive approach when identifying stressors and evaluate the

impact of stress in all areas of one’s life. One should also take a look at self-care options

in order to deal with chronic stress. Acknowledgement and acceptance of stress factors
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and a need for a wellness plan is the final step. The authors noted in order to improve

the health of an employee, they must live a balanced life and the workplace should be

supportive of the balance.

A strength of the article was the layout of topics: introduction, risk progrife,

self-care, stress symptom profile, and next steps. The authors are top researchers from

the TEND Academy. A limitation of the article does not provide specific research studies

to prove their suggestions. There are also no resources included at the end of the article.

I liked the comprehensive look at stressors in your life. It raised good questions

about each aspect of your life and how stress impacts each of those. I would have liked

to see some way of categorizing the risk profile. How would I determine if I was at a low

or high risk of stress?

Fisher, P., & Etches, B. (2003). A comprehensive approach to workplace stress & trauma in

fire-fighting: A review document prepared for the international association of firefighters

17th redmond symposium. ​TEND Academy.

Fisher and Etches, clinical psychologists at Fisher & Associates, discuss

workplaces stressor as well as challenges firefighters face. While noting the obvious fact,

firefighters experience traumatic stress, the authors suggest a comprehensive approach

to workplace stress. It is important to note firefighters work overtime, have limited

resources, and experience lack of control. Firefighters also struggle with their beliefs

about themselves and the world when facing trauma. The stress and trauma leaves

firefighters “at increased risk for negative physiological, mental health, behavioral, and
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interpersonal symptoms (2).” In order to address workplace stress in firefighting, there

must be a wellness program in place for staff, information about the stress they

experience and how to be resilient, and a shift in overall culture of the workplace to one

that values and fosters wellness and resiliency.

A strength of the article was the amount of information provided about the

authors and their research. The list of references has been very helpful and has lot of

valuable sources. A limitation is that the article does not discuss future research,

implications, or limitations to their research.

This article is helpful because of the comprehensive wellness plan. If there was

enough time, I’d say a comprehensive wellness plan for my school would be beneficial to

teachers. However, maybe that is something that comes later after sharing my findings

with my school principal.

Fowler, M. (2015). Dealing with compassion fatigue. ​The Education Digest​.

Fowler, an author and educational consultant, discusses the term secondary

traumatic stress and lays out its effects on teachers. Teachers can experience physical

pain, frustration, and have a difficult time making decisions and completing tasks. Fowler

goes on to discuss the need for coping and proper self-care. First, one must layout their

strengths and resources and then identify their needs. The suggested strategies to deal

with compassion fatigue are: start small, build a support system of healthy relationships,

manage reactions, choose and schedule positive activities,and do an act of kindness.

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Though not a scholarly article, the author provides a lot of good information.

Some strengths of the article are: real examples of how compassion fatigue affects

teachers, a table of symptoms, and a detailed list of questions/suggestions for each

coping strategy. A weakness is there are no additional resources listed and reads very

story-like, which makes it feel less reliable.

I like the table of symptoms. It might be worthy of including on my poster or within

my research. I would like to look into more this author’s research if I can find anything in

terms of compassion fatigue or supports.

Hoffman, S., Palladino, J. M., & Barnett, J. (2007). Compassion fatigue as a theoretical

framework to help understand burnout among special education teachers. ​Journal of

Ethnographic & Qualitative Research, 2​(1), 15-22.

This authors researched compassion fatigue in special education teachers as

special education teachers have a high burnout rate. They interviewed six at risk (for

leaving the profession) special education teachers with various roles using a

semi-structured, 90 minute interview. The results were grouped into three behaviors

consistent with compassion fatigue: loss of control, responsibility, and empathy. The

findings suggested teachers are unable to keep control and take on too many

responsibilities at the cost of their emotions. Further research is needed to

confirm/contradict their research.

One limitation to this research was very small sample size (6 participants). The

participants also are in their first six years of teaching, which could have had an effect on
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their findings. Another limitation is the teachers are special education teachers and no

general educators were involved in the study.

This has narrowed my topic for sure. I am now going to look for interventions to

combat/resolve compassion fatigue in teachers. I need to find more research on

compassion fatigue and see where that takes it me. Maybe I’ll find a survey or some

research gurus related to this topic.

Jones, A. (2018). [Graphic illustration what influences how I handle stress]. ​Headington Institute.

Retrieved April 14, 2018, from

http://www.headington-institute.org/blog-home/667/what-influences-how-i-handle-stress

Alicia Jones is the Vice President of Operations at the Headington Institute, a

nonprofit organization focusing on psychological support for those who witness trauma.

The informational graphic is divided into four sections. The first section discusses the

importance of sleep and how lack of sleep can contribute to perception and response to

the environment. In the second section, the difference in how people cope is due to

genetics, developmental, and experimental factors. The third section describes the

body’s psychological response to stress, known as allostasis. In the final section,

allostatic load is described as the body’s response to chronic stress and what lifestyle

choices can be made to alleviate stress.

Strengths of this informational graphic include the clear organization, easy to

read language, and the a section of takeaways from each section are provided. There

are no resources or research provided in the graph or in the caption to validate the given
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information. It’s also written by the VP of operations of the nonprofit organization, not a

researcher. The author offers only 2 other sources to learn more about the topic: one is

the video by Dr. Don Bosch, mentioned earlier, and the other is a training module.

The graphic is only somewhat tied to my topic because it talks about stress. I like

that this is easy to read. It might be worthy of sharing with others, informally. The training

module might be worth looking into, however, it does not directly tie to my topic.

Kaufhold, J. A., Alverez, V. G., & Arnold, M. (2006). Lack of school supplies, materials, and

resources as an elementary cause of frustration and burnout in south Texas special

education teachers. ​Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33​(3), 159-161.

Kaufhold, Alverez, and Arnold recognized and noted a general consensus of

reasons teachers leave the profession from research since 1994. The authors also noted

their focus on special education teachers in south Texas schools. Their purpose of the

study was to determine if lack of supplies, materials, and resources actually happened

and how it affects teachers’ attitudes towards funding allocations. Only 228 out of 750

special education teachers out responded to the survey that asked demographic

information as well as Likert scale for statements. It was found that lack of supplies,

materials, and resources were in fact a problem and caused frustrations in teachers. The

authors recommended administrators to look at fairly allocating funds and morale could

be lifted if the supply issue was addressed.

The teaching environments of special education teachers included in the survey

spoke to variety of the sample. The limitations to the study include only 31% of surveys
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returned. The authors only categorizes responses by strongly agree/disagree,

agree/disagree, and neutral in terms of lack of supplies, materials, and resources. They

also did not share any sample questions from their survey. This research added another

indicator to the frustration of teachers.

I already knew the general reasons teachers leave: student defiant behaviors,

lack of parental involvement, and lack of administrator supports. I know the growing

number of special education students affects teachers as well. I would have like to see

the survey they delivered and how it broke down into the different environments of the

special education teachers.

Mathieu, F. (2015). Beyond kale and pedicures: Can we beat burnout and compassion fatigue?

TEND Academy.

Mathieu discusses her personal experiences as well as numerous researchers’

and authors’ experiences in relation to job burnout and compassion fatigue. She

contradicts the previous research that suggested one must eat healthy and take of

themselves as the only way to deal with compassion fatigue by discussing Bober and

Regeher’s research in 2006. The author also draws specifically on the research of

Patricia Fisher, a fellow coworker, who developed a model to examine an organization’s

role in employee compassion fatigue. It is important to note it does take time to reduce

compassion fatigue in employees and workplaces where there is high trauma and high
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stress. The author suggests a comprehensive wellness plan at individual and

organizational levels.

A weakness of this article is there is no reference section, despite mentioning 5

or more people’s research or books. The article is also part informal (blog style) and part

research dense, which makes it difficult to prove validity in the research. A strength isi

that it contradicts previous research suggesting self-care is the only way to cope.

This was a good, quick read; despite being 14 pages long. There was a lot of

information woven between the author’s opinion. It was also the first article I have found

to suggest self-care is not the only option. I need to research more of those studies

mentioned in this article (even though there was no reference section).

Mathieu, F. (2010). Compassion fatigue: How do we lay the foundation for wellness? ​TEND

Academy.

Mathieu discusses what she learned from Dr. Gabor Mate, an author who is

known for his expertise in addiction, stress, and child development. The focus of this

article is on helping professionals deal with compassion fatigue. Four suggestions were

self-awareness, mindfulness, managing traumatic exposure, and physical exercise.

Self-awareness refers to one’s awareness to stress symptoms, how your past affects

your present, how your childhood affects the reactions to people you work with, and how

you approach self-care. Being mindful is really living in the moment and could include

some meditation. Managing traumatic exposure is necessary as workplaces become

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negative environments and work loads are increased. Another suggestion was to

regularly exercise, hard enough to sweat, several times a week.

A strength includes the numerous articles, books, and other resources mentioned

throughout the article. Another strength is each of the four suggestions had their own

section and included several self-reflection questions. A limitation to this article is the

resources mentioned were not specifically referenced at the end for readers to follow up.

I specifically liked the conclusion when the author says she is constantly asked

what helps compassion fatigue. Her answer was honest. Basically stop resisting and do

the simple things mentioned previously- it’s that simple! I feel like I have been

researching and researching to come up with the same simple ideas. Maybe the simple

ideas are the best ideas.

Mathieu, F. (2013). Low impact debriefing: Preventing retraumatization. ​Compassion Fatigue

Solutions.

Mathieu, a mental health counselor and compassion fatigue specialist with the

Compassion Fatigue Solutions Consulting Firm, confirms the natural urge to debrief a

traumatic or stressful situation. The author notes, however, often times we are debriefing

with too much detail to listener, who does not always have consent or warning of what is

about to be said. The author continues to discuss the negative impacts debriefing our

stress onto others without warning. Mathieu defines two types of debriefing: informal and

formal. Informal debriefing usually occurs immediately or within the same day and with

someone you trust, but the listener does not have a choice in hearing the information.
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Formal debriefing is usually scheduled for a later date. The author ends with giving 4

steps to provide loa impact debriefing: self-awareness of the situation, fair warning

before telling a traumatic story, get consent from the listener, and limit the details of the

story.

The strengths of the article include the author’s knowledge of the subject matter

and distinct sections of the paper. The author also gives several reflective questions to

help the reader determine if debriefing applies to their situations, to look at the listener’s

perspective, and to think of a simpler version of the story. A limitation is that the author

does not provide the research on Low Impact Debriefing and it’s benefits.

I like this article a lot. The reflective questions and the steps to Low Impact

Debriefing would be beneficial to share with staff members. It could almost be used as

an intervention, if I could fit into the timeline.

Mathieu, F. (2014). Occupational hazards: Compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout.

Canadian Nurse, 110(​ 5).

In this “Ask the Expert” article, Mathieu, a mental health counselor and

compassion fatigue specialist with the Compassion Fatigue Solutions Consulting Firm,

answers the question of the effects of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and

burnout. She empathizes with the reader first by drawing on her experience as a crisis

counselor while mentioning occupations of clients she has worked with. The author then

defines compassion fatigue, symptoms, and general causes. The author goes on to

describe vicarious trauma (also known as secondary traumatic stress) along with a few,
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short examples. The author also defines burnout and explains it is a common thing in all

workplaces. The end of the article includes coping strategies to deal with stress, which

include a support system, debriefing the situation, decompression through active

exercise, mindfulness practice, reducing trauma input, and advocating for change at

work.

A weakness of the article is that is an advice column not a scholarly article.

Strengths of the article include it is very easy to read, provided a bulleted list of coping

strategies, and five resources to read more about compassion fatigue and coping

strategies. The resources list also has a website link and the type of resource (article,

video, etc).

This article helped me understand the difference between compassion fatigue,

vicarious trauma, and burnout. I liked the coping strategies list. It could be shared with

others if my survey results indicate the need for strategies. I will be looking into the

resources as they are from TEND Academy, who are the top researchers in compassion

fatigue.

Mathieu, F. (2007). Running on empty: Compassion fatigue in health professionals. ​Rehab &

Community Care Medicine.

In this article, Mathieu discusses the effects of compassion fatigue (CF) on health

professionals. She starts by defining compassion fatigue as the “cost of caring” (1). She

went on to discuss the data and research from surveys of nurses and other healthcare

providers. In summary, a concerning amount of healthcare workers are feeling

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emotionally exhausted and it is effecting their job performance and retention in the field.

Mathieu lays out a list of signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue. The author

mentions the ProQOL survey to assess one’s compassion fatigue symptoms because it

is important to understand and recognize the symptoms of CF. Factors affecting one’s

risk of developing CF include working conditions and life circumstances. Ways to prevent

compassion fatigue include developing a workplace norm for discussing and recognizing

compassion fatigue, building a support network, and taking care of yourself.

The strengths include the large amount of questions provided for self-reflection

when preventing and developing a self-care plan, suggestions when to receive

counseling, the long list of signs and symptoms, and the mentioning of the ProQOL. The

weakness of this article is the lack of research about preventative strategies. It felt more

like suggestions from the author.

I liked this comprehensive article because it included everything from CF

symptoms to causes to prevention strategies. Again, the ProQOL is going to be my

instrument for research in the fall.

Mathieu, F. (2018). The edge of compassion. (TED Talk). Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbV8UtHqEbw

Mathieu talks about compassion and that we are all different in our levels of

compassion. She discusses her background in working with trauma. She identifies we

have lost our set of boundaries and can easily get caught up in other people’s drama.

She identifies the term empathic strain, which is in essence compassion fatigue. People
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are having trouble transitioning from their work and their home lives due to their

compassion fatigue. She talks the “sweet spot” of caring between not caring and being

overwhelmed with empathy. Mathieu discusses some strategies to help with compassion

fatigue. First, identify your own warning signs (physical, behavioral, and emotional) that

you are getting into the “Red Zone” of emotions and tolerance. The window of tolerance,

how we react to situations at different emotional levels, is the zone in which we live in.

She discusses some helpful strategies: mediation, exercise, and mindfulness.

There was not a transcript to go along with this TED Talk so it was hard to follow

her words. A strength was the visual aids she showed and explained during her talk. She

was engaging through humor and real life examples of the things she was talking about,

which was easy to relate to.

It was good to hear a voice to the researcher of whom I have been reading a ton

about. I liked the information she gave and how it was presented in a relatable way. It

was a long (17 minutes) elevator pitch, but gave research studies by name when

necessary and visual aids. It would be awesome if LPS could get her to speak to us.

Pearlman, L. (2012). What to do about burnout: Identifying your sources. ​Headington Institute.

Dr. Laurie Pearlman is a senior consulting psychologist at the Headington

Institute, a nonprofit organization focusing on psychological support for those who

witness trauma. The author normalizes dissatisfaction in jobs and burnout while

providing examples and nonexamples of reactions to those feelings. She describes

sources of burnout in humanitarian work, which include a gap between job requirements
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and one’s skills, lack of appreciation and feedback, and responsibility for things out of

one’s control. The author includes five reflective questions to determine what challenges

one faces. It ends with what the author calls the ABC’s: awareness, balance, and

connections in order to address the challenges.

Although this article has good information, there are no additional resources to

look into. There are no mention of any research. It almost feels like an opinion article

because it is written without much academic language.

I want to know if those reflection questions could be turned into interview

questions to determine ways to resolve compassion fatigue. I’m not sure this has the

best information as it is discussing burnout and solving it. I think I would need to tie in

more information to make the connection to my topic.

Prather-Jones, B. (2011). How school administrators influence the retention of teachers of

students with emotional and behavioral disorders. ​Clearing House, 84​(1), 1-8.

In this article, the author focused on why special education teachers of students

with emotional and behavioral disorders stay in the profession versus why they leave as

most research has covered. The qualitative study included snowball sampling and

informally interviewing participants in person and in depth. The research was coded and

analyzed for patterns. The findings include the need for administrative support as well as

support from other co-workers. When support was offered from administrators and

co-workers, teachers were respected, and administrators reinforced consequences,

special educators had a higher rate of retention.

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The limitations of this study are discussed. The author noted that it cannot be

generalized due to the small sample size. A strength of this study was the table of

interview questions. The descriptions of the how the data was collected was

well-explained as well as the findings section.This is a helpful article because it talked

about supports and reasons teachers were staying in their position.

It relates to my topic and I am hoping to come up with things that would help

teachers stay at my school. The article discussed administrative supports, which was

good information and was suggested for further research. I could look into supports

offered at my school and decide how they relate to job satisfaction.

Prillenltensky, I., Neff, M., & Bessell, A. (2016). Teacher stress: What it is, why it is important,

how it can be alleviated. ​Theory Into Practice, 55(​ 2), 104-111.

In this article, the authors define teacher stress, how it affects teachers, and

provides protective supports to relieve/prevent stress in teachers. The authors lay out

three types of stress experienced by teachers: personal, interpersonal, and

organizational. Personal stress refers to anxious and lonely feelings and can be

supported through networking within the school to discuss concerns. Interpersonal stress

is defined as stress from working with parents, students, and co-workers. This stress can

be alleviated through classroom management and mentoring. Organizational stress

refers to the stress of the workplace and can be combated through consistency in

policies, clarified roles, and adequate teacher education.

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The authors only offer suggestions for more research and notes teacher stress is

attributed to all educators and teacher training programs. The findings of this article

suggest there is more research and interventions needed in teacher education in terms

of exposing and supporting pre-service teachers to the stress and demands of teaching.

This article covers a lot of research relating to workplace stress, the effects of the stress

on an employee, specifically teachers, and supports available to teachers. This article

was helpful because it layed out information in a logical way (based on 3 types of

stress). The table in the article was quite helpful with the types of stress, who/how it is

involved, and the protective supports available.

These are good things to look for in my building and how well they are utilized to

support teachers and combat stress. I would like to build/incorporate similar tables to

report data.

Shyman, E. (2010). Identifying predictors of emotional exhaustion among special education

paraeducators: A preliminary investigation. ​Psychology in the Schools, 47(​ 8), 828-841.

Shyman takes a look at paraprofessionals in the special education field. He

surveyed 100 paraeducators from public schools and alternative settings. The

researcher was looking to find correlations between demographics, job demand, role

conflict, sense of efficacy, supervisor support, and emotional exhaustion. He also looked

for predictors of emotional exhaustion. The data resulted in role conflict, emotional

demand, sense of efficacy, and supervisor support were predictors of emotional

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exhaustion. Due to the needs and unpredictable behaviors of students, the paraeducator

feels emotional strains and occupational stress. The author discusses the need to

strengthening supervisor supports and understanding the issues paraeducators face

would better help support them. The limitations include issues with self-reporting, the

overlapping of information collected from the surveys, and the supervisor structure of the

schools.

A weakness to this article is the fact the author used 4 different surveys

(Emotional Exhaustion Subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, The Copenhagen

Psychosocial Questionnaire, Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale, and the Social Support

Subscale of the Job Content Questionnaire) for paraprofessionals to self-report. Another

weakness is there is no information about the author provided besides Dowling College.

I found this to be a valuable article. However, I was confused on why the author

thought it was a good idea to administer 4 surveys to paras. I was also confused

because the author made a special note that no para was from an urban school and

there were 11 schools (however, some only had 1 representative). The overall results

were well within the research I have read. I may want to look at a few of these surveys,

but not overwhelm the participants or myself with the amount of data collection.

Tillman, L. C. (2003). Mentoring, reflection, and reciprocal journaling. ​Theory Into Practice,

42​(3), 226-233.

The author addresses the shortage of African American teachers, especially in

low income, urban school districts. The author makes claims for usage of mentors to first
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year teachers as well as reflective and reciprocal journaling. For the study, the author

collected data from dialogic journaling, personalistic reflections, and interviews from an

at-risk first year teacher, her mentor, and the principal. The findings suggest principals

should recognize their position of power and how it affects first year teachers. The author

also mentions principals should be thoughtful in choosing mentors for first year teachers.

Finally, the author suggests principals should have set times to meet, interact, and get to

know first year teachers.

One limitation of this study is they only focused on one teacher, her mentor, and

her principal. There were not enough to people involved to make this a truly valid study.

The review of the literature and the numerous references to the literature supported the

author’s claims in regards to first year teachers, shortage of African American teachers,

and interventions. This article provides a few good things. The in-depth review of the

literature helped support the author’s claims as well as the interventions. It was an

interesting read regardless of its limitations.

It fits with my topic because I am interested in job satisfaction which is related to

turnover rates in my Title 1 school. I don’t see myself using this article much in my

research. But I one tangent I could follow is the effectiveness of mentors as a first year

teacher.

Traut, C.A., Larsen, R., & Feimer, S.H. (2000). Hanging on or fading out? Job satisfaction and

the long term worker. ​Public Personnel Management, 29(​ 3), 343-351.
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Traut, a University of South Dakota political science professor, Larsen, a Division

Chief for the Sioux Falls Fire Department, and Feimer, a University of South Dakota

political science professor, discuss the job satisfaction in firefighters. The research study

was conducted with 123 Sioux Falls Fire Department employees with the purpose of

finding out if years of service and employment level affect job satisfaction through a job

satisfaction survey. Job satisfaction was categorized into 5 aspects: overall job

satisfaction, satisfaction with job content, satisfaction with departmental relationships,

satisfaction with job training, and satisfaction with supervisor. The results indicated that

being a Supervisor resulted in significantly positive satisfaction with departmental

relationships and overall job satisfaction. The newest employees 0-3 years and 4-10

years of experience were significantly positive satisfaction with supervisor and overall job

satisfaction.

The strengths of this article include 85% participation from the survey, the

categorizing of data (experience and role), and their findings were well explained. A

weakness is that it did not include limitations to their research or what should be

continued to be studied (other than the steps the Sioux Falls Fire Department should

take).

I thought this was really interesting because it was a type of study I have thought

about doing at my school. I think I should categorize my staff in terms of years of

experience and role to see if there is anything significant there.

Winch, G. (2014). Why we all need to practice emotional first aid. (TED Talk). Retrieved from

https://www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_the_case_for_emotional_hygiene
 25

Winch, a psychologist and author, discusses the need for emotional hygiene. He

starts by comparing physical injuries to emotional injuries. You get physically hurt and

you see a doctor, but you don’t even think to see a counselor when you are emotionally

hurt. He goes onto to discuss reasons people get emotionally hurt such as feeling lonely,

rejection, feeling stuck in a situation. Stewing over things and feeling bad for yourself or

your situation can lead to onset of major complications , such as depression. When you

feel emotional pain, you should treat yourself like you would for a friend. By taking action

when you are emotionally hurt, you can build emotional resilience. You should think of

emotional hygiene like you would personal hygiene.

A strength was this TED Talk is the transcript is attached, which makes it easier

to follow along the speaker. A weakness is that he does not discuss the research

backing this idea, which makes it sound more like his opinions. It is also very easy to get

lost in his stories and to come back to the main idea of what he was saying.

I really enjoyed listening (and reading the words) to the speaker because he was

the first person I have read about that discussed emotions in this way. I like the term

emotional hygiene.

Yu, X., Wang, P., Zhai, X., Dai, H., & Yang, Q. (2015). The effect on work stress on job burnout

among teachers: The mediating role of self-efficacy. ​Social Indicators Research, 122​(3),

701-708.
 26

The authors first define job burnout and self-efficacy. The study involved 387

middle school teachers. There were three questionnaires used: the Perceived Stress

Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General

Survey. The findings included a positive correlation between perceived stress and job

burnout but negative correlations in perceived stress and self-efficacy. It was also noted

there was a negative correlation between self-efficacy and job burnout.

The article did not discuss future research opportunities. The discussion section

mostly discussed how their research compares to others. Other than the correlations,

there is no other findings to share. One limitation to the survey is that teachers were

ages 30-35, form 2 middle schools in China. A strength of this article is the three

questionnaires. The demographics of the schools were not given (public/private, income

level).

This article relates directly to my research: job satisfaction and stress. I would like

to find copies of these surveys as they might be helpful. I could see this being a possible

study to replicate in my own middle school.

Zahoor, Z. (2015). A comparative study of psychological well-being and job satisfaction among

teachers. ​Indian Journal of Health & Wellbeing, 6(​ 2), 181-184.

In this article, Zahoor describes both psychological well-being and job satisfaction

as well as relevant research on the two topics. The author had three hypotheses:

teachers from private and government schools differed in psychological well-being and in

job satisfaction, and there was a positive relationship between psychological well-being
 27

and job satisfaction. The study included a random 50 private and 50 government school

teachers. The study used the Psychological Well-being Scale by Bhogle and Prakash

(1995) as well as the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire by Kumar and Mutha (1985). The

results proved there was a significant difference in both psychological well-being and job

satisfaction. There was also a positive relationship between psychological well-being and

job satisfaction.

Although the instruments used were over 20 years old, the study is still relevant.

The study took place in one district in India and included a small sample size of 100

teachers (50 private school and 50 government schools). The study could be replicated

in the United States and include a larger sample size. This article confirmed ideas I have

thought of in regards to job satisfaction. The questionnaires would be helpful and could

be easily adapted to complete a study my school. Descriptions of job satisfaction and an

abundance of helpful references could also be beneficial to my research in teacher job

satisfaction.Psychological well-being may be another area to look into in relation to job

satisfaction.

I need to look into the reference section to further my research. I also need to see

if I can find printable copies of the questionnaires. I also need to decide if this is similar

to the research questions I am developing and will be testing in the fall.