Burnout and Race-Related Stress among BIPOC Women K–12 Educators

Understanding how best to recruit and retain Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the education workforce is critical for human resource practice and scholarship. BIPOC educators are consistently shown to positively influence student outcomes, but leave the workforce at a rate 25% higher than their White colleagues. Emerging research points to school climate as a reason that BIPOC educators leave. Relatedly, researchers find that race-based and gender-based discrimination impact job burnout. Guided by the intersectionality scholarship that acknowledges how women of color experience marginalization across multiple identities, the current study examines how race-based stressors, both in daily life and in the work environment, are associated with job burnout for BIPOC women K–12 educators. Multivariate analyses of data disaggregated from an original survey distributed to BIPOC educators in a predominantly White and rural state ( n = 145, 54.6% women) consistently isolate the effect of a racialized school climate on the burnout of BIPOC women educators. Specifically, when BIPOC women educators perceive their schools to be less open to discussing racial conflict, they report greater job burnout. Although there were no differences in the amount of burnout reported across racial groups, there were differences in the levels of daily racial microaggressions experienced. Notably, only school-based racial stressors emerged as a significant predictor of burnout. We discuss implications for organizational policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as the hiring, retention, and promotion of women of color.

App-Based Mindfulness for People of Color Who Experience Race-Related Stress: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND People of color (POC) who experience race-related stress are at risk of developing mental health problems, including high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Mindfulness meditation (MM) may be especially well suited to help POC cope, given their emphasis on gaining awareness and acceptance of emotions associated with discriminatory treatment. However, MM rarely reaches POC, and the use of digital approaches could reduce this treatment gap by addressing traditional barriers to care. OBJECTIVE The current study will test the effectiveness of a self-directed app-based mindfulness meditation program among POC who experience elevated levels of race-related stress. Similarly, important implementation outcomes, including treatment acceptability, adherence, and satisfaction will be examined. METHODS Participants (n = 80) will be recruited online, sending emails to relevant listservs, and posting fliers in communities of color. Eligible participants will be block randomized to either 1) the intervention group (n = 40) where they will complete a self-directed 4-week MM program, or 2) a wait-list control condition (n = 40) that will receive access to the app after study completion. All participants will complete measures at baseline, mid-, and post-treatment. Primary outcomes include changes in stress, anxiety, and depression. Secondary outcomes include changes in mindfulness, self-compassion, rumination, emotion suppression, and experiential avoidance. Exploratory analyses will examine whether changes in primary outcomes are mediated by changes in the secondary outcomes. Finally, treatment acceptability, adherence, and satisfaction will be examined descriptively. RESULTS Recruitment began in October 2021. Data will be analyzed using multilevel modeling, a statistical methodology that accounts for the dependence among repeated observations. Considering issues of attrition in self-directed digital interventions and their potential effects on statistical significance and treatment effect sizes, we will examine data using both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this will be the first study to provide data on the effectiveness of an app-based mindfulness program for POC recruited based on elevated race-related stress, a high-risk population. Findings will also provide important information regarding whether a self-directed app-based MM interventions are an acceptable treatment among this underserved population. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05027113; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05027113

Promoting African American Activism: Experiences of Racism-Related Stress and Spirituality

This study investigates how spirituality, psychological orientation to religion, and racism-related stress are associated with African American activism. Measures of Race-Related Stress, Quest Religious Orientation, Fundamentalism Religious Orientation, and Intrinsic Spirituality were used as exogenous variables. African American Activism was the endogenous variable. Results based on a sample of 148 self-identified African American adults revealed that quest religious orientation, intrinsic spirituality, and racism-related stress were positively associated with activism-related behaviors, while fundamentalist religious orientation was negatively but not significantly associated with activism-related behaviors. Paths of a multiple regression model were analyzed using Mplus version 8. Findings shed light on the interplay of spiritual coping resources and the personal impact of racism in mobilizing an activist response to oppression.

Investigating Race-related Stress, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress for Black Mental Health Therapists

The present study examines the relationships among burnout, secondary traumatic stress (STS), and race-related stress among a national sample of 250 Black mental health therapists (counselors, social workers, psychologists, and marriage and family therapists). We investigated the predictive nature of the three subscales (Individual Racism, Cultural Racism, and Institutional Racism) of the Index of Race-Related Stress–Brief Version (IRRS-B) and selected demographic variables on therapists’ reports of burnout and STS assessed on the Professional Quality of Life Scale–Version 5 (ProQOL-5). All three forms of race-related stress significantly predicted both burnout and STS for Black mental health therapists. Of the demographic variables, hours worked per week significantly predicted burnout and STS. Additionally, highest degree obtained significantly predicted STS for Black mental health therapists. The utility of these findings in understanding the connections among race-related stress, burnout, and STS are discussed as well as directions for future research.

African American Activism: The Predictive Role of Race Related Stress, Racial Identity, and Social Justice Beliefs

Historically, African American activism has played a pivotal role in advancing social change in the United States. As such, there is an interest in examining possible factors that may engender activism among African Americans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to extend research by Szymanski and Lewis (2015), which explored potential predictors of activism among African Americans. With a sample of 458 African American undergraduates, race-related stress, racial identity dimensions, and social justice variables were examined. A four-stage, multiple linear hierarchical regression model and two multiple mediation bootstrap analyses were employed. Race-related stress and racial identity attitudes significantly and uniquely predicted involvement in African American activism, complementing existing literature. Beyond that, social justice beliefs predicted African American activism over and above racial identity and race-related stress. More specifically, social justice subjective norms (i.e., social influence) was the most important predictor of activism for African American undergraduates. Implications for social justice development within institutions of higher education are discussed.

Significance of Social Support Among Black Mental Health Counselors: The Role of Counselor Educators and Supervisors in Combating Race-Related Stress

In general, mental health counselors face unique challenges in their job roles because of the population that they work with. However, Black Americans who worked in predominately White workspaces perceived race-based discrimination to be a real issue. Perseverative cognition related to work can cause an increase in the individual’s need to recovery because it maintains work-related stressors that deplete the individual’s resources further. The repetitive thoughts can lead to anticipatory cognition or stress, which makes the individual hyperaware or vigilant due to thinking they may experience racial discrimination or a racial encounter. Social support has been used to buffer the adverse effects that are caused by racial encounters. Social support has shown to have an influence on mental health by buffering the effects of stressors. Participants were provided a survey that include three questionnaires to complete. The results showed that the overall models for the two analyses were significant. However, the moderators for the analyses were not significant.

Men’s psychiatric distress in context: Understanding the impact of masculine discrepancy stress, race, and barriers to help-seeking

This study examined perceived barriers to help-seeking as mechanisms by which masculinity may generate risk for psychiatric distress in men. An online sample of 558 men completed self-report measures of masculine discrepancy stress (i.e. distress about one’s perceived gender nonconformity), barriers to help-seeking, and psychiatric distress. A significant indirect effect of masculine discrepancy stress on psychiatric distress emerged through perceived barriers to help-seeking; notably, this effect was stronger among Men of Color (vs White men). The promotion of optimal psychiatric functioning in men may necessitate interventions that target the effects of masculine socialization and race-related stress on help-seeking attitudes.