Faculty Publications

Seeking Restorative Experiences: Elementary School Teachers' Choices For Places That Enable Coping With Stress

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Coping strategies, Restorative, School teachers, Stress

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Environment and Behavior

Volume

38

Issue

4

First Page

503

Last Page

520

Abstract

Teacher stress and coping research and restorative environments research were converged in this study to explore how elementary school teachers in Chicago seek out everyday places in their milieu to implement restorative coping strategies. Seventy-one survey responses revealed that teachers' spontaneous place choices are related to sources of stress and that the restorative potential of a place was related to its ability to support teachers' inward or outward coping strategies. Teachers implemented effective strategies in places such as home, nature, city places, third places, and church. The ways these places were experienced differed according to teachers' perceptions of frequency and type of stress and how the place enabled the inward or outward strategy as needed. Findings suggest directions for exploring restorative design interventions in teachers' environments, especially within school environments. © 2006 Sage Publications.

Department

Department of Design, Textiles, Gerontology, and Family Studies

Original Publication Date

7-1-2006

DOI of published version

10.1177/0013916505283420

Link to Full Text

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