Qualitative study reveals substantial secondary traumatic stress and institutional strain among school staff, highlighting the need for systemic trauma-informed organizational support.
Key Points
To examine the lived experiences of secondary traumatic stress among school personnel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, identifying the personal consequences of student trauma exposure and evaluating perceived support mechanisms.
Conducted semi-structured online qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of 11 primary and secondary school staff members in the UK and Ireland.
Analyzed transcript data using reflexive thematic analysis embedded within a constructivist framework.
Identified four core themes describing systemic institutional failures, intrusive emotional burdens and mood disturbances, conflicts between professional identity and personal responsibility, and dependence on informal coping strategies.
Identified symptoms aligning with secondary traumatic stress alongside the novel concept of 'mirrored trauma', where staff members' individual histories interact with student distress, underscoring the inadequacy of individual resilience approaches.