Stress and coping among student teachers at a South African university: An exploratory study

This article reports findings from an exploratory qualitative study on the lived experience of stress among a convenience sample of 14 South African university student teachers (female = 8, black = 7; age range = 22 to 31). The students were participating in training in mindfulness meditation, and c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychology in Africa 2016-12, Vol.26 (6), p.491-499
Main Authors: Draper-Clarke, Lucy J., Edwards, David J. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coping
Disruption
Meditation
Mindfulness
Resilience
Self report
Stress
stressors
student teacher
Student teachers
Teachers
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Summary:This article reports findings from an exploratory qualitative study on the lived experience of stress among a convenience sample of 14 South African university student teachers (female = 8, black = 7; age range = 22 to 31). The students were participating in training in mindfulness meditation, and completed three interviews over a six-week period on stressors impacting on their personal and professional lives and on how they experienced them and responded. There were additional data from recordings of the mindfulness training sessions and a self-report scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). Thematic analysis revealed a wide range of stressors experienced by the students and provided insight into sources of resilience in dealing with them. In conclusion, the authors consider whether the extreme experiences of stress foreshadow the discontent among South African students that would fuel the serious unrest and disruption that has been negatively affecting South African universities since.
ISSN:1433-0237
1815-5626
DOI:10.1080/14330237.2016.1250425