Date of Award

Fall 2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Bonnie Bolado

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate current self-care practices used by school principals and the correlation between school principal self-care practices and their alignment with the seven pillars of self-care. This study sought to bring awareness as to the barriers and motivations of current school principals and the impact of those barriers and motivations on effective implementation of principal self-care. In addition, this study provides the district of study and other rural school districts with potential recommendations in order to support current school principals in the proper implementation of self-care practices. A mixed methods approach was used to conduct this study. Data were collected through the use of the Self-Care Assessment Worksheet Survey located in Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization by Karen W. Saakvitne Laurie Anne Pearlman and individual interviews. All school principals within the study district were participants. Survey results were analyzed through the use of frequency of response tables. Participant responses from the interviews were coded and themed in order to gain a more thorough understanding of the correlation between the current self-care practices of school principals and the seven pillars of self-care framework. This research illuminates the multifaceted challenges and motivations that school principals face in practicing self-care, providing valuable insight for future interventions and systemic changes. It is evident that tackling these challenges necessitates a multi-pronged approach, targeting individual, organizational, and societal levels.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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