**16. Strengths, limitations, and implications for professional practice and future research**

The findings as presented need to be interpreted with caution, alongside the following strengths and limitations. The mixed methods design with a qualitative focus yielded more detailed self-reporting of the lived experiences of a small number of participants, providing more insights than is possible through quantitative methods alone. The qualitative findings provided rich contextual data against which the quantitative data could be interpreted at an individual level. However, limitations that must also be acknowledged firstly include the small sample size which restricts the generalisability of these findings. Secondly, recruitment through convenience sampling increases the potential risk of researcher bias in utilising non-random sampling of participants, who in turn may have been predisposed towards participating based on their time availability, their interest in the issue, and their pre-existing knowledge of the researchers and research institution [43]. Social desirability is another potential risk whereby participants may be predisposed to reporting what they think might be acceptable to the researchers [7]. The validity and reliability of self-report methodology is not guaranteed, and individual reflections may be influenced by factors of which participants may be unaware and that are inaccessible to reflection [56]. However, the validity of this research approach overall, may be confirmed by similarity of these findings with findings from other research with teachers [41, 42, 48].

In light of the above, the present study contributes new understandings of the impact of reduced client-related burnout in reducing overall burnout in this small sample, and contributes further insights into how teachers and principals tend to draw upon their inner resources. Although this is a small-scale research study, the importance of care of the carer is highlighted iis work. It is essential that teachers and school leaders address their own well-being needs, not alone for the self but also to enable them to support pupils' well-being needs. It is clear, particularly from the second phase of the research study that teachers' really do see the importance of self-care, however this takes time and commitment along with an attitude of the

*Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Well-Being during the Covid 19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110428*

importance of this time for self. There is the potential to expand this study to include a larger number of participants and furthermore to see as we resume life in a more 'normal' fashion and teachers have returned to pre-pandemic working conditions, are self-care practices being maintained?
