Abstracts Health Sciences

Teacher Retention Crisis After Natural Disaster Trauma and a Global Pandemic

by Kimberly Marie Jarrard

Natural disasters affect the communities of over one million students and educators in the United States every year; however, school-based preparedness and prevention programs are nearly non-existent across disaster-prone areas. School-based trauma intervention programs are somewhat present in schools; however, it is more expensive and at a cost, and most public school systems do not have funds readily available to spend. However, the price is more significant on the adolescents' and educators' mental health and communities affected when they are only treated reactively rather than proactively. There are many studies on the results and after-effects of trauma on the mental health of communities, adults, and even a growing number of research studies on adolescents. However, there is a deficit in the research on preventative mental health care and interventions that foster resilience in adolescents, teachers, educators, and school personnel in disaster-prone areas and the effects that the delivery of the interventions post-disaster may have on educators' burnout rates. School-based trauma-informed interventions are effective; however, the teachers and school personnel must be adequately trained prior to disaster or delivery to students to avoid further burnout or psychological injury to themselves and possible accidental injury to their students. Educator retention after trauma and a global pandemic has been an understudied effect of treatment in adolescent disaster trauma in the research.