An Investigation of Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress Over Time in School Personnel Involved in a Trauma-Informed Initiative

Abstract

Purpose: Indirect exposure to trauma can negatively impact the well-being of school personnel and students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that individual, leadership and organizational characteristics play in producing potential changes in burnout and secondary trauma in K -12 school personnel from baseline to post trauma informed care initiative. Methods: Data from the Professional Quality of Life-5 (ProQOL-5), the STS Scale (STSS) and the STS Informed Organizational Assessment (STSI-OA) was collected from 205 school personnel (e.g. teachers, counselors, school leaders and other staff) at two time points. Results: General Linear Mixed Modeling indicates that mean scores on measures improved over time. Participants with lower STSS arousal showed an increase in burnout over time while participants with high levels of STSS arousal showed a decrease. Conclusions: The findings highlight the relationship between  constructs and that leadership efforts can be harnessed to improve well-being in school personnel.