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Abstract
This study examines preservice teacher coursework and interview data related to encountering student trauma, secondary trauma, and the role of self-care during clinical placement experiences. A thematic analysis of the data led to the identification of four main themes: the power of student stories, recognition of the many forms of trauma, preservice teacher burnout, and barriers to integrating self-care. Additionally, our analysis revealed the ways in which preservice teachers experienced secondary trauma as a consequence of forming relationships with students and listening to their stories. Some of the effects of this secondary trauma were mitigated by engaging in self-care, but those preservice teachers who felt they failed at supporting their personal wellness experienced burnout. More troubling, only one preservice teacher recognized self-care's connection to trauma-informed teaching. Our findings reveal the importance of infusing content on trauma, secondary trauma, and self-care in teacher education coursework and the need to provide professional development on trauma-informed teaching for clinical placement school sites.
Introduction
Trauma is the experience of intense physical or psychological stress in response to one or more adverse event(s) or life circumstance(s) (SAMHSA, 2015). Such events or circumstances can affect an individual's physical, emotional, social or spiritual well-being (Crosby, 2015). Disconcertingly, the past decade of research has shown that trauma is abundant, and especially prevalent in childhood (Alisic, 2012). Children who have experienced trauma are also K-12 students, and that trauma is carried with them into classrooms. Student trauma might include suffering through natural disasters, loss, abandonment, chronic poverty, fear, or abuse. Based on growing statistics, it is likely there are children in every classroom who have experienced some level of trauma (National Child Traumatic Stress Network [NCTSN], 2016), with disproportionately higher rates in low-income schools (Brunzell, Stokes, & Waters, 2016; Ford, Chapman, Connor, & Cruise, 2012). If we accept that trauma directly affects students' lives and their abilities in the classroom, we can anticipate that it will have at least indirect effects on teachers (Fowler, 2015). Any teacher who cares for traumatized students is thus susceptible to the burdens of trauma.
Admittedly, there are many positive benefits associated with caring for students, such as experiencing feelings of self-fulfillment, competence, and personal growth (Tehrani, 2007). But caring comes at a cost: the risk of...