Learning to Prevent Burning and Fatigue: Teacher Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

During a professional development workshop, 64 Canadian educators from Southwestern Ontario participated in a workshop about natural consequences that may develop as a result of their line of work. A focus on teacher compassion fatigue, an unresearched area with respect to Canadian educators, and burnout, was taken. The current study hypothesized professional development would positively influence educators’ knowledge, skills, and awareness regarding burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue, in both the short and long term. Furthermore, it was predicted there would be a correlation between burnout and compassion fatigue, and that years of experience would be related to the level of burnout reported. Results supported the efficacy of professional development in both the short and long term; and support was partially detected for the relationship between burnout and compassion fatigue, but not for the relationship between years of experience and burnout. Implications and future research are discussed

Uncomfortably Numb: an exploration of affective carceral strains through the lens of the depersonalising young male prisoner

The aim of this study was to examine depersonalisation as a dissociative coping response among male prisoners(aged 18-24).Its central focus explored how young adult males might employ depersonalisation, as a coping mechanism, when they feel unable to negotiate the negative emotionality of carceral strains through conventional coping strategies. As a learned coping response, that is rooted in pre-prison vulnerabilities, depersonalisation raises challenges to carceral well-being and adjustment to prison life. Narratives of depersonalisation experiences, before, during and after imprisonment, were gathered over an eight-month period using an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, it was not possible to carry out interviews face-to-face, so a research methodology comprising on-line semi-structured interviews, personal drawings and a story-board narrative of script-driven imagery was employed. Twelve former prisoners, currently on licence in the community, along with two prison officers and two prison healthcare workers were selected using a volunteer sampling framework. This was supplemented by email and telephone correspondence with organisations linked to the Criminal Justice System and the charity Unreal. The resulting data was initially coded into broad themes before being analysed using NVivo12 software. This study was motivated by the current paucity of literature into prison dissociation, particularly in how depersonalisation as an avoidant coping strategy, among young adults, is impacted by imported vulnerabilities,and the emotionality of the carceral environment(Viková & Bejgarová, 2021).Analysis of the results demonstrated that the former prisoners, believed negative emotionality around carceral strains, had led to wide-ranging depersonalising experiences, impacting both their well-being and adjustment to the prisoner society. Although not exclusive, the most common emotional carceral strains that were identified by the interviewees, included the loss of social support, prison boredom, the lack of security and the uncertainty of self-governance

Qigong at Work: Where East Meets West

State of the Art Qigong is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) and aims to balance body and mind. The roots of Qigong lie in China, where Confucian and Daoist scholars (500-400 B.C.) noted that one must learn to balance and relax one’s thoughts and emotions to avoid illness (Yang, 1997). In the Western world, Qigong is best known for its slow and coordinated movements. According to TCM, these movements will help regulate one’s ‘qi’, or life energy, through the body to improve the health and harmony of mind and body. During the practice of Qigong, one’s breathing, attention and movement are aligned. As such, Qigong is sometimes considered Mindfulness in movement (although there are many important differences). New perspectives / contributionsQigong has many positive outcomes on health and wellness. In both patient groups and healthy individuals, Qigong has been shown to improve psychological well-being, quality of life, immune function, balance and related risk-factors, and bone density (Jahnke et al., 2010). As such, Qigong offers a validated way to reduce the physical and mental activation that results from a person's work. While recent research has demonstrated how important it is to take short breaks at work, there is still little attention for Qigong exercises as a means to recover at work.Practical Implications In this presentation, we will explain and practice several Qigong exercises. These movements can be used at work (and at home) to recover from (hormonal) activation, ‘empty’ one’s head, and restore the body-mind balance. <br/

IFPOC Symposium:Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change.

IFPOC symposium: Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change Chairs: Maria Vakola (Athens University of Economics and Business) &amp; Karen Van Dam (Open University) Discussant: Mel Fugate (American University, Washington, D.C) State of the art Organisations are required to continuously change and develop but there is a high failure rate associated with change implementation success. In the past two decades, change researchers have started to investigate change recipients' reactions to change recognizing the crucial role of these reactions for successful change. This symposium aims at identifying and discussing the complex processes that underlie the relationships among antecedents, reactions and outcomes associated with organizational change. New perspective / contributions This symposium consists of five studies that extend our knowledge in the field by (i) providing an analysis of change recipients' reactions going beyond the dichotomous approaches (acceptance or resistance) (ii) revealing understudied antecedents-reactions and reactions-consequences patterns and relationships (iii) shedding light on the role of contextual factors i.e team climate and individual factors i.e emotion regulation on the adaptation to change. This symposium is based on a combination of both quantitative (i.e diary, survey) and qualitative (i.e interviews) research methodology. Research / practical implications This symposium aims to increase our understanding of the complex processes associated with change recipients' reactions to change. Discovering how these reactions are created and what are their results may reveal important contingencies that can explain how positive organizational outcomes during times of change can be stimulated which is beneficial for both researchers and practitioners

Compassionate Divorce Recovery for Christian Women

Depression, anxiety, anger, and guilt causes significant distress for 70% of divorcees, typically lasting upwards of two years, while 15-30% report more devastating and life-altering distress for the rest of their lives. Christians divorcees have the added shame of spiritual failure, leading to an increased sense of judgment and isolation from their worship communities. Self-compassion is an attitude toward oneself comprised of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, and has been shown to reduce depression, anxiety, shame, stress, and social isolation. To date, there are no published divorce recovery programs specifically tailored for Christians utilizing self-compassion techniques. This quasi-experimental study analyzed a group protocol for use with Christian women, integrating Christian-accommodative mindful self-compassion techniques with an existing secular divorce recovery workbook. While the treatment group showed gains in self-compassion, adjustment to divorce, social connectedness, self-worth and belonging, and a reduction in depression, anxiety, guilt, social isolation and God attachment-anxiety, the results showed no difference between the treatment group (N = 16) and control group (N = 10) on any measure. Self-compassion integrated with Christian principles and Scriptures was well-received by the Christian participants

Post Traumatic Stress Disorders in a Global Context

If, as a health care or social service provider, one was called upon to help someone who has experienced terror in the hands of a hostage taker, an irate and chronically abusive spouse or parent, or a has survived a motor vehicle accident, landslide, earthquake, hurricane or even a massive flood, what would be one's priority response? What would be considered as the most pressing need of the individual requiring care? Whatever the answer to each of these questions, people who have experienced terror, suffer considerable psychological injury. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Global Context offers some answers to meet the needs of health care and socials service providers in all settings, whether in a hospital emergency room, at the war front, or natural disaster site. The take home message is, after providing emergency care, there is always a pressing need to provide mental health care to all victims of traumatic stress