<p> The problem that was addressed by the study is whether teachers working in blighted schools experience higher levels of secondary traumatic stress due to indirect exposure to students’ trauma and higher rates of anxiety due to direct exposure to a blighted school building than teachers working in non-blighted schools. The purely quantitative study that utilized two validated instruments and an objective checklist was conducted via Qualtrics on the internet. Study results were based on an internet survey of 172 high school teachers who work directly with students. Scores on the SDI, the STSS and the STAI-AD were analyzed. Teachers were assigned to a group, blighted or un-blighted, based on his or her qualifying scores on the SDI. Those with scores of 4 or higher were assigned to the blighted group whereas those teachers with a score of less than 4 on the SDI were assigned to the non-blighted group. Final numbers of participants for each group were 84 for the un-blighted group and 88 for the blighted group. Composite scores for the STSS and the STAI-AD were calculated. Hypothesis 1 results indicated there is a significant difference in STS, as measured by the STSS, between high school teachers who work in blighted school buildings and a control group of high school teachers who work in non-blighted school buildings (t = -6.340, p < .001, df = 170). Hypothesis 2 results also indicated there is a significant difference in state symptoms of anxiety occurring during exposure to school building disrepair, as measured by the State subscale of the STAI-AD, between high school teachers who work in blighted school buildings and a control group of high school teachers who work in non-blighted school buildings (t = -4.233, p < .001, df = 132.757). The findings of the study are consistent with previous studies on the negative effects of community blight and STSS in the helping professions.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10974259 |
| Date | 02 November 2018 |
| Creators | Denham, Florence S. |
| Publisher | Northcentral University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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