All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects

Year of Award

2024

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

College

College of Arts & Sciences

Degree Program

Collaborative High Impact Instruction

Department

Education and Special Education

First Advisor

Joanne Fish

Second Advisor

Jaime Doronkin

Third Advisor

Cathy Schroy

Fourth Advisor

Claudia Charles

Keywords

Lived experience, Self-care, Burnout, Mental and Emotional Well-being

Abstract

The problem of practice for this research study was to look at social workers who are exposed to vicarious trauma and how it impacts their mental and emotional well-being and self-care engagement. The data gathered from this research will hopefully generate added information on how and why social workers are burning out faster (within 7-10 years) than earlier generations (Cummings, 2021, Hricova, 2020; Liu, 2023). Previous studies have revealed that there has been little research on the impact of vicarious trauma on social workers (Butler, 2017; Cummings, 2021; Lewis, 2019; Ruiz-Fernandez, 2021). A mixed-methods methodology was used (Burkholder, 2020; Creswell, 2018), using the Professional Quality of Life Survey, Version 5 (ProQOL 5) to obtain descriptive quantitative data and a researcher-designed in-depth open-ended semi-structured interview to obtain qualitative data. To add to the data collection, the author asked participants to submit a photograph that reminded or connected the participants to their client(s), past or present (Neubauer, 2019; Williamson et.al, 2021). The focus of the study was on social workers' thoughts, feelings, and transcendental (psychological) meanings within lived experiences. The purpose was to answer the overarching research question: What are the lived experiences of social workers who experience vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout, and what impact does that have on their emotional and mental well-being?  The researcher found that participants across the world all had similar qualities, such as personal characteristics ethical guiding principles and intrinsic altruism when working with clients who have experienced immense suffering, violence, and trauma, and the participants themselves witnessed and held that suffering.

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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