Examining the emotional impact on educators working with trauma-affected, at-risk youth, 2020

Item — Call Number: MU Thesis Col

Identifier: b7930177

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

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The collection consists of dissertations written by students enrolled in the Monmouth University graduate Educational Leadership program. The holdings are primarily bound print documents that were submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Doctor of Education degree.

During the fall 2022 semester (in instances where the requisite waivers were received from consenting student authors), the Monmouth University Library, together with the University's Graduate School and School of Education, began providing open access to select full-text digital versions of current theses and dissertations through links to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global website in the Library's Online Public Access Catalog. Links to these open access digital publications can also be found in the "External Documents" section under any conforming titles that are listed among the holdings itemized in the collection inventory for this finding aid.

Dates

Creation: 2020

Creator

Colbert, Damon (1978- ) (Author, Person)
Fitzgerald, Jason C. (Thesis advisor, Person)
Henning, John E. (Thesis advisor, Person)
Salvatore, Michael H. (1975- ) (Thesis advisor, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Access is by appointment only.

Research appointments are scheduled by the Monmouth University Library Archives Collections Manager (732-923-4526). A minimum of three days advance notice is required to arrange a research appointment for access to the collection.

Access to the collection is confined to the Monmouth University Library and is subject to patron policies approved by the Monmouth University Library.

Patrons must sign a completed Researcher Registration Form and provide appropriate identification to obtain access to the collection. Copies of these documents will be kept on file at the Monmouth University Library.

Extent

1 Items (print book) : 110 pages ; 8.5 x 11.0 inches (28 cm).

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the emotional impact on educators working with trauma-affected, at-risk youth at a quasi-military school program located in New Jersey. The program is designed for students ages 16 to 19 who are experiencing academic difficulties and exhibiting problematic behavior inside and outside of school. The quality of social interactions with these students depends on the level of emotional intelligence of educators, who often struggle with personal feelings during interactions with student behaviors.

In this qualitative study, nine educators were interviewed about their interactions with trauma-affected youth using semi-structured interview questions. An analysis of the data indicated four categories that create emotional challenges that influence the emotional impact on educators working with this population: Students (description of the student population), Strategies (the approach or technique used to interact with students), Interactions (educator interactions accompanied by an emotional challenge), and Effects (the mental, emotional, or physical change in an educator due to working with trauma-affected students). Two of the categories, Students and Strategies, contained subcatagories. For Students, these were Demographics (general characteristics and details of students) and Trauma Stories (student's traumatic experiences). For the Strategies category, these were: Respect Approach; Smile and Humor Approach; No Nonsense Approach Human Approach; and Building Relationships Approach. Three Individual Analyses of there different educators were also presented to illustrate differences in the emotional impact on educators working with these students.

Emotional challeges were identified as a contributing factor for Compassion Fatigue, which eventually led to a less empathetic attitude towards students. Burnout was identified when the emotional challenges rose to a degree that they affected the educator's personal life. Some of these effects were manifested as aggression towards family members, social isolation, mind-numbing conditions, marital disconnection, and continuous thoughts related to emotional triggers. Vicarious Trauma was not found to be signficant to the data of this study. However, Vicarious Trauma can reflect the emotional impact from constant exposure to traumatic stories, behaviors, and interactions.

The findings suggest that educators might benefit from professional development in trauma-informed training, emotional intellegence, and social emotional learning. Unstable feelings from educators are not only a reflection of a struggling educator; they can also cause emotional reactions that hurt and damage students.

Partial Contents

Abstract -- Dedication -- Acknowledgement -- Table of contents -- 1. [Introduction and purpose] -- 2. Review of the literature -- 3. Methodology -- 4. Findings -- 5. Discussion -- References -- Appendix.