| The purpose of this participatory, descriptive study was to gain a deeper understanding of how the experience of collective performance creation might facilitate self-care in a group of formal and informal caregivers. Self-care has been identified as a necessary preventative strategy for what is variously referred to as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress disorder, vicarious traumatization, and burnout. Two long-term outcomes are described: the first is increased awareness and understanding of secondary traumatic stress, the second is a model for an adult self-care program using drama in the prevention of burnout for formal and informal caregivers and helping professionals.; The study took place in a private teaching, counselling and support agency in Alberta, Canada over a period of one year. Twelve caregivers explored movement, character, group improvisation and working with masks in an autoethnographic process leading to a performance about self-care. The theme of the exploration was "Where do caregivers find sources of strength?" Extensive fieldnotes were made throughout this process. One outcome of the process was a performance creation entitled Taking Care. It was presented to other caregivers in three venues. Responses to the performances were collected, analyzed and combined with thematic analysis of the field notes in order to identify successful self-care strategies associated with performance creation. The study identified three elements that facilitated self-care for this group of formal and informal caregivers: (a) the need for sanctuary in order for participants to confront themselves in a process of self-knowledge, (b) the freedom to create a fiction, and (c) a confirmation of the experience through the theatrical event. Suggestions are made for practical ways to use this process to support caregivers in other educational and health care settings. |
