<p> Previous research indicates that burnout leads to issues such as attrition and poor practitioner health in early childhood education and other helping professions. This study examined self-care as a potential buffering factor against burnout in preschool teachers. Maslach’s three-dimension construct of burnout, trauma stewardship, and the coping reservoir model formed the theoretical foundations for this research. This study used semi-structured, open-ended interviews to collect qualitative data from four preschool teachers at different points in their careers to understand how early childhood educators conceptualize and practice self-care, experience burnout, and perceive the relationship between self-care and well-being. The findings show that preschool teachers experience multiple levels of work-related stress, that several types of factors can increase resilience to stress and burnout, and that self-care is highly complex and dynamic. These results point to the necessity of promoting self-care at the individual and organizational levels, treating self-care as a professional imperative, providing burnout interventions at the individual, organizational, and societal levels, and encouraging teachers to practice self-care in dynamic, adaptive ways to best support their unique needs and situations. The field would benefit from further studies exploring the relationship between self-care and burnout specifically in early childhood education, ways in which organizations can promote self-care practices in employees, and what characteristics or practices exist among teachers who have demonstrated resilience in the face of chronic work-related stressors. </p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10807955 |
| Date | 24 May 2018 |
| Creators | Penning, Allise M. |
| Publisher | Mills College |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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