Study of Yoga Intervention to Reduce Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Public School Educators

A problem in education was the great amount of stress teachers were under. Secondary Traumatic Stress “is the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about the first-hand trauma experiences of another” (The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, n.d.). When teachers feel they cannot work or are overwhelmed with the demands of education, this can be attributed to Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) (Caringi et al., 2015). Many teachers felt there was not enough support from the administration, as they not only deliver curriculum, but they also worried about the students’ mental health, home lives, hunger, and how to support them (Caringi et al., 2015). Experiences of STS among educators can cause an exodus from the profession due to demands to meet all students' needs. The purpose of this Mixed Methods Action Research (MMAR) study was to examine teachers’ experiences of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and the impact a six-week trauma informed yoga intervention had on those experiences integrating both qualitative and quantitative data using the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) (2021)assessment and personal interviews of the participants. The research question was: Q1 What are the perceptions of teachers, who practiced yoga for six-weeks, on their experience of STS? The sample size for this study was 20 K-12 public school teachers who self-identified as having work-related stress or STS. Participants engaged in a six-week trauma informed yoga intervention with pre/post assessments. The data collection methods used were quantitative, pre/post ProQOL (2021) assessments, as well as qualitative, pre/post six-week yoga intervention interviews. The results of the mixed methods study included a decrease in public school teachers’ STS and burnout, and an increase in their compassion satisfaction based on ProQOL (2021) scores. Interview analysis elucidated that participants attributed these changes to the yoga practice. They described both professional and personal changes as a result of their participation, reported feeling less stress, reported experiencing fewer symptoms of STS, and developed a sense of hope.