Date of Award

Spring 1-10-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Timothy McCarty

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to describe the challenges school social workers experience when supporting students and their families in their schools. Additionally, the purpose of this study was to understand how school social workers use mindfulness practices to help them respond to the challenges of working with the students and their families in their school based on Lesser’s mindfulness model (2019): love the work, do the work, don’t be an expert, connect to your pain, connect to the pain of others, depend on others, and keep making it simpler. Methodology: In this multicase study, the researcher conducted five interviews with school social workers in California. The researcher employed qualitative methods to explain the challenges that school social workers face while supporting students and their families and to identify the most useful mindfulness practices for school social workers to use when responding to these challenges. Findings: The findings from the study indicate that school social workers experience multiple challenges when supporting students and their families. Furthermore, the study’s findings identify the most useful Lesser’s (2019) mindfulness practices for school social workers while dealing with these challenges. Twelve identified themes, four major findings, and one unexpected finding emerged from the semistructured interviews and artifacts. vii Conclusions: The study found that the more needs students and families have, the more challenges school social workers experience. Additionally, the study supported the usefulness of school social workers using mindfulness practices while experiencing these challenges. Practicing mindfulness helped school social workers feel more compassionate, present, empathetic, self-aware, and calm while supporting students and their families during challenging times. Recommendations: It is recommended that more research be conducted to replicate this qualitative multicase study concentrating on school social workers who assist a specific group of ethnically diverse students. Another recommendation is that this qualitative multicase study can be replicated with school social workers who only work with children in elementary, middle, and high schools. Finally, it is recommended to use a mixed method to interview and survey school social workers to build on the findings of this study.

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