Transpersonal practices as prevention intervention for burnout amongst HIV/AIDS coordinator teachers

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The impact of transpersonal psychology techniques presented in Capacitar workshops as aprevention intervention for burnout amongst HIV/Aids coordinator teachers has not beenstudied to date in South Africa. This research project utilised a mixed-method approach in apre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design. Educators from South Metro, who wereHIV/Aids co-ordinators in their schools, were invited to attend six days in total of Capacitarworkshops. Measures of their levels of stress and burnout were taken before and after theintervention. Thirty teachers volunteered to take part in the workshops and 27 completed thetraining. A control group (n=27) was chosen from a group of teachers in the Central and SouthMetros of the Western Cape, South Africa. The Capacitar workshops were presented byfacilitators who had been trained and accredited by Dr Pat Cane, founder of CapacitarInternational, California, USA.The overall theoretical perspective adopted in the transformative approach was transpersonalpsychology. While equal priority was given to both the quantitative and qualitative legs of thestudy, the quantitative data were gathered first. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was usedto measure anxiety and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) was used to measure threedimensions of burnout: personal, work and client burnout. The means of the intervention andcontrol groups of teachers were found to be similar on the BAI and CBI prior to theintervention. After the workshops, there were significant reductions in anxiety, personal andwork burnout in the post-test measures of the intervention group. There were also significantdifferences in personal and work burnout of teachers between the intervention and controlgroups. Although reduction in the levels of anxiety and client burnout (working with children)was evident in the intervention group, this was not significant. The control group showed nosignificant improvement on any measures and in some cases, levels of burnout increased.Qualitative data in the form of global analysis of focus group interviews provided insights intothe experience of workshop delegates, and their teaching contexts. To cope with work andpersonal stressors, teachers turned to physical (n=29), mental (n=17) and spiritual activities(n=15), with many (n=19) using negative coping tools. Individual line sketches, a collage ofoutliers and mind maps, together with portraits of delegates, highlighted the context andexperiences in the Capacitar workshops. As a result of exposure to transpersonal practices, HIV/Aids coordinator teachers were first able to start the process of healing themselves, andthen turn to their families, learners and the community at large to share the tools offered.The qualitative data also yielded sixteen themes: Increased consciousness; personalempowerment; role empowerment as carers; emotional intelligence; mindfulness; heartcoherence; processing traumatic pain; multiculturalism; self-acceptance; light heartedness;interconnectedness, sharing; forgiveness; holistic, right brain healing; changing brain patterns;mind-body-spirit integration and a return to wholeness.The results of this study showed both quantitatively and qualitatively that transpersonalpsychological techniques mediated burnout amongst HIV/Aids coordinator teachers in MetroSouth, Western Cape Education Department, Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. Recommendationsare made in the light of the findings and the limitations of the study.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University