Self-Care Options for Resilient Educators (SCORE) Teaches Aspiring Teachers How to Manage Stress in Light of COVID-Related Disruptions

Abstract

Self-Care Options for Resilient Educators (SCORE) is an 8-week, asynchronous virtual training program that teaches stress management skills relevant to educators’ job-related responsibilities and interpersonal interactions. From January-April 2020, 28 pre-service teachers participated in a quasi-experimental study of SCORE’s feasibility and preliminary efficacy. Volunteers chose to either complete SCORE concurrent with their teaching internship or to complete the same assessments for comparison purposes. Recruitment and implementation took place prior to COVID-19 disruptions. Then, six weeks into SCORE, the participants encountered unanticipated school closures and uncertainties associated with their internships (e.g., Would they be able to complete their internships and degree programs? Would they be eligible to teach the next school year?). Despite disruptions to their teaching internships, the remote format of SCORE allowed the study to continue and for participants to complete the full training. Pre-intervention to post-intervention changes in outcomes for the intervention group reflected large effect sizes for decreases in burnout and increases in teacher efficacy. There were medium effects for increased self-compassion and small-to-medium effects for increased cognitive reappraisal. However, pre-to-post intervention differences for the comparison group were relatively unchanged on most indicators. Results for secondary traumatic stress was remarkable, as the comparison group demonstrated a medium-to-large effect for an increase at post-intervention. This measure, however, revealed no effect in change for program participants. This finding is noteworthy and suggests that participation in SCORE or a similar program may help mitigate the potentially harmful effects of exposure to secondary trauma. Overall, this study’s results support arguments for including stress management training during pre-service teaching internships.

Classroom Management Practices During in Person Classes: Viewpoints of Secondary Teachers

“…This finding is significant and suggests that participating in SCORE or a similar program might be effective in mitigating the potentially detrimental effects of exposure to secondary trauma. In conclusion, the results of this study provide support for the inclusion of stress management training during preservice teaching internships (Ansley & Wander, 2021).…”

Healthy educators need healthy schools: Supporting educator work-related well-being through multitiered systems of support.

“…To that end, it is important for educators to have effective coping strategies for handling stress. Offering school-wide professional development opportunities to increase stress management skills, including mindfulness, behavioral strategies, cognitive behavioral approaches, and stress reduction interventions, reinforces that leadership recognizes the significance of educator work-related well-being (for sample interventions and systematic reviews of interventions, see Ansley & Wander, 2021;Beames et al, 2023;Eddy et al, 2022;Hagermoser Sanetti et al, 2021;von der Embse et al, 2019;Zarate et al, 2019).…”