**9. Data analysis**

This research study collected both qualitative and quantitative data in the context of related literature on teacher well-being and care practices, given that the focus of this chapter is on self-care practices employed by teachers during the pandemic. The ERQ [28] and CBI [32] data were first entered into Excel and then imported into IBM SPSS Statistics 25 (IBM Corp. Released, 2019) for statistical analysis. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 data demonstrated acceptable reliability with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .815 to .919. Of the 22 participants who completed both questionnaires in Phase 1, 15 participants completed both questionnaires in Phase 2. Participants' self-reported burnout overall was evident across both phases, yet favourable in comparison to pandemicrelated burnout of other caring professionals in Ireland and internationally [7, 38, 47]. See [49] (in preparation) for more detail. Client-related burnout which included selfreported frustration and energy levels when working with colleagues and students, was the only burnout factor that reduced significantly from Phase 1 to Phase 2 (Wilcoxon test statistic: −3.22, p. < .01). This component of burnout included items such as: *Do you find it hard to work with students/colleagues in lockdown? Do you find it frustrating working with students/colleagues in lockdown?* The ERQ data showed a high rate of cognitive reappraisal at Phase 1, which increased significantly at Phase 2 for the 15 participants who completed the ERQ on both occasions (Wilcoxon test statistic: −2.168, p. < .05). There was an accompanying non-significant reduction in expressive suppression, which is less beneficial for one's health [31] Teachers tend to use both methods of emotion regulation in their daily lives, sometimes reverting to expressive suppression in times of stress, despite their ability to use cognitive reappraisal, which has been shown to be effective in moderating teachers burnout in general [29] and in disaster contexts [50].

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the qualitative interview data from both phase 1 and 2 of data collection. Specifically, IPA is a qualitative approach developed in particular within the field of psychology [51] and *Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Well-Being during the Covid 19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110428*

it contends that 'human beings are not passive perceivers of an objective reality, but rather that they come to interpret and understand the world by formulating their own biographical stories into a form that makes sense to them ([52], p 88)'. The participants 'lived experience' is coupled with a subjective and reflective process of interpretation, in which the analyst explicitly enters the research process [53]. The analysis involves a five-stage process that was detailed by Smith & Osborn [54]. The stages are: 1) Looking for themes in the first place, 2) Looking for connections 3) Developing a table of themes, 4) Continuing the analysis with other cases and 5) Developing a master list of themes for the group.

#### **9.1 Looking for themes in the first place**

The researchers read each transcript numerous times in an attempt to become intimate with the narrative. The researchers recorded anything which was of interest in the left-hand margin and on the right-hand margin documented emerging themes.

#### **9.2 Looking for connections**

A list of emerging themes were collated from both the principal and teacher interviews and connections between them were established and as clusters of themes developed the researchers remained in close contact with the original transcripts to ensure the accuracy of these themes.

#### **9.3 A table of themes**

Having established connections in one transcript a table of themes was developed which captured the major themes which emerged from the narrative and again the original transcript was referred to, to ensure the theme was represented in the verbatim script.

#### **9.4 Continue the analysis of other cases**

The themes which emerged from the first interview then guided the analysis of further transcripts and the researchers also remained open to the emergence of new ones. All new themes were checked against prior transcripts and the process involved continual checking and rechecking against previous research.

#### **9.5 Develop a master list of themes for the group**

Finally, in this comparing process, a master list of themes was produced and a list of superordinate and subordinate themes emerged, referring to major and minor themes. The analysis process was cyclical [8] and the stages were worked through several times. This process was applied to both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of qualitative data analysis. The theme and subthemes from both phases of data collection are presented and the highlighted themes that are relevant to this research are presented below emerged from both phases of data collection. Phase 1 data reports on how the lockdown provided an opportunity for participants to focus on personal well-being and increased self-care while Phase 2 enabled participants to reflect on well-being and self-care on return to school (**Tables 3** and **4**).


#### **Table 3.**

*Relevant themes and sub-theme(s) from phase 1 of qualitative data collection.*


#### **Table 4.**

*Relevant themes and sub-theme(s) from phase 2 of qualitative data collection.*
