Teachers’ intentions to report suspected child abuse: the influence of compassion fatigue

Abstract

Teachers are legally mandated to report suspected child abuse – a role that positions teachers as crucial figures in the detection and prevention of child abuse. It is, thus, important to explore underlying determinants of teachers’ likelihood to report suspected child abuse. In this research, we explore teachers’ and school administrators’ (N = 299) knowledge of abuse reporting policy and their self-reported intentions to report hypothetical instances of suspected child abuse. We also explore the relationship between compassion fatigue (i.e., job burnout and secondary traumatic stress stemming from vicarious exposure to client trauma) and teachers’ attitudes toward reporting suspected child abuse. A significant minority of teachers indicate that they would not report suspected child abuse – a finding that holds even after eliminating the 10.3% of teachers who were unaware of policy requiring teachers to report suspected child abuse. Supporting hypotheses, as compassion fatigue increased, negative attitudes toward child abuse reporting significantly increased. Additionally, increased compassion fatigue was significantly associated with increased job efficacy cynicism, psychological detachment from students, and diminished knowledge about reporting child abuse – all factors that statistically explained the relationship between compassion fatigue and negative attitudes toward reporting suspected abuse.