Self-compassion as key to stress resilience among first-year early childhood teachers during COVID-19: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

ABSTRACT

Applying self-compassion as the conceptual framework and interpretative phenomenological analysis as the methodological framework, this study investigated the lived experience of stress and stress coping among eight first-year early childhood teachers (teaching preschool-3rd grade) in the United States during COVID-19. Each teacher was interviewed via Zoom for 90 min. As synthesized by the Stress Resilience Model, the teachers’ stress resilience appeared to have been facilitated by self-compassion, reflecting seemingly a transformative journey from a place of self-judgment to self-kindness, psychological isolation to psychological connectedness, and emotional rumination to emotional mindfulness. This journey was mobilized seemingly by self-introspection and social support.