Open AccessCompassion Fatigue: The Experiences of Teachers Working with Students with Exceptionalities
Author(s) -
Newsha Ziaian-Ghafari,
Derek H. Berg
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
exceptionality education international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.226
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1918-5227
DOI - 10.5206/eei.v29i1.7778
Subject(s) - burnout , psychology , compassion , emotional exhaustion , workload , compassion fatigue , distress , social psychology , clinical psychology , political science , computer science , law , operating system
The purpose of this study was to explore the social-emotional experience of teachers working with students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. Individual interviews were conducted with five participants with in-service teaching experience. While these teachers highlighted experiencing burnout, the breadth and depth of their experiences with respect to psychological distress were more profoundly situated within compassion fatigue. Considering the root of burnout as being related to workload conditions and that of compassion fatigue being rooted in social-emotional relationships with students, it is possible that compassion fatigue and burnout emerge along parallel trajectories of psychological distress in teachers.