Addressing Compassion Fatigue and Stress of Special Education Teachers and Professional Staff Using Mindfulness and Prayer

Abstract

Alternative therapies are promising nursing interventions for improvement of compassion fatigue in educators working in special education. A convenience sample of 27 teachers and professional staff working in special education participated in a quasi-experimental pilot study and completed a pre/posttest of demographic questions, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (10-item) and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL). All attended a presentation on stress, compassion satisfaction (CS), mindfulness, prayer, and social support. Nearly, one half received weekly electronic text message reminders encouraging use of mindfulness and prayer. All were offered support groups. Use of alternative therapies was self-selected and self-reported. Significant improvement occurred in posttest PSS scores (p = .0485) of participants with the highest reported levels of use of mindfulness. ProQOL CS scores (p = .0289) and PSS scores (p = .0244) significantly improved when evaluating difference in means between groups with the highest levels and lowest levels of prayer and mindfulness. ProQOL burnout scores (p = <.0001) increased from pretest to posttest. Findings were not significant in regard to reminders and social support.