Childhood trauma, empathy, and perceived stress among teachers: Implications for trauma-informed school social work

Abstract

This study examined whether empathy moderated the association between childhood trauma and general perceived stress among teachers and considered the implications for trauma-informed school social work. A convenience sample of 330 primary and middle school teachers was recruited from ten schools in Istanbul, Türkiye. Data were analysed using Spearman correlations, multiple regression, and PROCESS Model 1 with HC3 robust standard errors. Childhood trauma was positively associated with perceived stress in both correlation (ρ = 0.264, P < .01) and regression analyses (B = 0.14, P < .001), whereas empathy had no significant direct association with stress (B = 0.03, P = .378). The trauma × empathy interaction was significant but small (B = −0.004, P = .041; ΔR2 = 0.007), and the association was weaker at higher empathy. School social work draws on ecological and person-in-environment perspectives to address psychosocial barriers through consultation, referral, and interprofessional collaboration. Teachers’ psychosocial functioning may therefore be relevant to this practice environment because teachers contribute to recognizing student needs, safeguarding, family-school communication, and support planning. However, school social work services, collaboration processes, and outcomes for students and families were not measured, so these implications require direct testing.