Teacher depression as a dynamic variable: Exploring the nature and predictors of change over the head start year

Teacher depressive symptoms and children's school readiness in Ghana

This study investigated associations between kindergarten teachers' (N = 208) depressive symptoms and students' (Ghanaian nationals, N = 1490, Mage  = 5.8) school-readiness skills (early literacy, early numeracy, social-emotional skills, and executive function) across 208 schools in Ghana over one school year. Teachers' depressive symptoms in the fall negatively predicted students' overall school-readiness skills in the spring, controlling for school-readiness skills in the fall. These results were primarily driven by social-emotional skills (r = .1-.3). There was evidence of heterogeneity by students' fall skill levels; teacher depressive symptoms predicted more negative spring overall school readiness for children who had higher fall school-readiness skills. Findings underscore the importance of teachers' mental health in early childhood education globally, with implications for policy and practice.

Professional Development Targeting Classroom Management and Behavioral Support Skills in Early Childhood Settings: A Systematic Review

Early childhood educators are expected to provide the children in their centers high-quality care and preparation for later school success. At the same time, nearly a third of children enter early care and education settings displaying challenging behaviors, which in turn impacts educators' stress levels and wellbeing. It is then unsurprising that classroom management and providing behavioral supports are consistently identified as areas where educators require further training upon entering the workforce. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the empirical literature on professional development (PD) approaches targeting these areas for early childhood professionals. Forty-two studies were identified as meeting inclusion criteria and were coded for strategies targeted, the context and characteristics of the PD series, and the research design and outcomes utilized. Findings revealed that studies were highly variable in terms of targeted strategies, format of administration, training dose, research design, educator and child samples, and reporting practices. The majority of studies were conducted with educators from Head Start and public preschools and utilized research staff in the administration of the PD approaches. This indicates a need for more high-quality empirical evidence on PD approaches that cater to the larger early childhood workforce and centers' needs. Implications for researchers and early childhood mental health professionals and administrators are discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12310-022-09562-x.

'Staying Afloat': A Mixed Methods Study of the Financial and Psychological Well-being of Early Childhood Educators

Early childhood educators play a critical role in the lives of young children, especially through their sensitive interactions. Educators' capacities to engage in high-quality interactions are shaped by their mental health. Studies examining early childhood educators' mental health often focus on psychopathology or negative aspects of mental health, despite the importance of understanding mental health through a well-being lens. This study explores the connection between two important areas of well-being: psychological and financial well-being. Using mixed methods, we examined 123 early childhood educators' financial well-being and psychological well-being. Financial well-being predicted psychological well-being, but the relationship was curvilinear; those with the highest and lowest financial well-being had the highest psychological well-being. Qualitative findings suggest possible buffers for psychological well-being among educators with low-financial well-being and highlight struggles of those with low psychological well-being. Implications for how early childhood educators' well-being might be supported with policy and practice initiatives are discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10643-022-01429-9.

Addressing challenges at the intersection of early intervention and child welfare

BACKGROUND

The Keep Children and Families Safe Act amendment to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 2003 mandated children under age three who are involved with Child Welfare (CW) to receive a referral to the system for early intervention (EI). While there is strong rationale for providing developmental services to young children and families impacted by maltreatment, the early implementation of this policy brought about many challenges related to interagency coordination and readiness of providers to provide cross-systems care. Currently, as the system and providers within the system recover from the effects of Covid-19, a predicted increase in need of services may exacerbate historical gaps in the provision of services to families involved with CW.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

This policy-focused paper explores issues impacting CW and EI providers who coordinate care between CW and EI services.

METHODS

This paper provides a historical examination of these challenges and proposes an approach for improving developmental services for families referred from CW, specifically through the lens of addressing resources and supports available to providers.

RESULTS

The proposed approach includes an increase and reprioritization of resources to support provider readiness and well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

By focusing on support for providers, the authors propose a reduction of stress and improvement of services at each level of the "well-being" system.

Is the Prevalence of Low Physical Activity among Teachers Associated with Depression, Anxiety, and Stress?

The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of stress, depression, and anxiety among Polish secondary school teachers and their association with selected psychosocial, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 116 Polish teachers in 2019, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire—Short Form (IPAQ-SF), the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), and author questionnaire including psychosocial factors specific to the respondents’ work environment. The prevalence of moderately to extremely severe levels of depression, anxiety, and symptoms of stress in teachers was 18.1%, 22.4%, and 51.7%, respectively. Among respondents with moderate or high physical activity level (PAL), normal or mild levels of depression (OR = 3.62; CI [1.31–10.03]), anxiety (OR = 2.61; CI [1.01–6.73]), and stress (OR = 2.79; CI [1.16–6.69]) were more common. The level of individual symptoms of mental disorders was higher than indicated by previous Polish reports. Given that teachers’ low PAL is significantly related to their moderately to extremely severe levels of stress, depression, and anxiety, we suggest running leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) enhancement programs and supporting the leadership of school management and the higher-education system in this regard.

A new look at teacher interactional quality: Profiles of individual teacher-child relationship and classroom teaching quality among Head Start students

Preschool teachers' relationships with children are a critical component of classroom quality. We draw from a sample of N=2,114 children attending Head Start to examine child-centered profiles of experiences across two dimensions of classroom interaction quality that are often considered separately, individual teacher-child closeness and conflict and classroom-level instructional and emotional support. Findings reveal considerable heterogeneity in Head Start children's experiences, as the profiles differed on individual conflict, and classroom emotional and instructional support. The largest profile was characterized by a positive emotional climate and low instructional support. Higher teacher distress was associated with the highest quality and the highest conflict profiles. The results also revealed early evidence for gender and race and ethnicity-based disadvantages in Head Start classroom experiences.

COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety, stress, and depression among teachers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

As millions of teachers have been forced to rely upon remote teaching due to the closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is particularly important to understand the extent to which teacher's psychological wellbeing has been affected by this global health crisis.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis was twofold: 1) ascertain the prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among teachers during the COVID-19 outbreak; 2) identify the associated factors of these psychological wellbeing domains of the teachers.

METHODS

Academic Search Premier, Eric, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for articles published from December 2019 and July 2021, using search terms including "COVID-19" "anxiety" "depression" "stress", and "teachers".

RESULTS

This study included 54 studies synthesising data from 256,896 teachers across 22 countries. The meta-analysis showed higher prevalence of stress (62.6%, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 46.1-76.6), compared to anxiety (36.3%, 95% CI: 28.5-44.9) and depression (59.9%, 95% CI: 43.4-74.4) among teachers. Teachers' experiences of these psychological issues were associated with various socio-demographic and institutional factors, including gender, nature of online teaching, job satisfaction, teaching experience, and the volume of workload. Additionally, several protective factors, such as regular exercises and provision of technical support for online teaching, reduced teachers' negative psychological experiences.

CONCLUSION

There is a need for authorities to formulate educational policies to improve teachers' wellbeing at the time of global crisis. Special attention should be paid to assist female teachers in overcoming physical and mental stressors.

Both sides of the screen: Predictors of parents' and teachers' depression and food insecurity during COVID-19-related distance learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented strains on both parents and teachers, both of whose mental and financial hardships have serious implications for young children's wellbeing. We drew on an existing cohort study of families with low incomes in Tulsa, OK when children were in their Spring of first grade in 2020. We surveyed parents and teachers - children's caregivers on both sides of the screen during distance learning - before and after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools were closed. We first compared the proportion of parents and teachers who were depressed and food-insecure before and after the pandemic struck. We then used pre-pandemic characteristics of parents and teachers in separate models to predict their depression and food insecurity during the pandemic. Results showed that rates of depression among both parents and teachers spiked after COVID-19, and food insecurity rates also increased among parents. For both parents and teachers, the strongest predictor of depression during COVID-19 was having experienced depression before the pandemic. Similarly, the strongest predictor of food insecurity during COVID-19 was having experienced food insecurity beforehand. These results point intervention efforts towards identifying the caregivers of children in low-income contexts whose mental and financial wellbeing are likely to be most compromised during this and perhaps future disasters.

Psychosocial Work Environment and Teachers' Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Job Control and Social Support

Nowadays, the issue of teachers’ psychological well-being causes serious concern, especially in Malaysia. Many studies related to psychological well-being have focused on students rather than on the health and well-being of teachers. Thus, the current study investigated the determinants of psychological well-being (depression, anxiety and stress) from the psychosocial work environment (job control, job demands and social support), and examined the moderating role of job control and social support in the relationship between job demands and psychological well-being among teachers. The design of this study was quantitative research through a survey questionnaire. The sample consisted of 335 high school teachers (23.3%—male; 76.7%—female) who responded to measuring scales of job demands, job control, social support, depression, anxiety and stress, and socio-demographic profile. The data were analyzed using two statistical methods, namely descriptive and inferential statistics. The hierarchical linear regression model was used to analyze the data by assisting the statistical software, i.e., SPSS-23. The results showed that job demands, job control and social support significantly predicted teachers’ psychological well-being. Furthermore, the effect of job demands on teachers’ depression and anxiety was partially moderated by job control and social support. In conclusion, this study has successfully identified the significant predictors of teachers’ psychological well-being and the role of job control and social support as a moderating variable to teachers’ psychological well-being in Malaysia. The result provides insights and contributes to the literature of teachers’ psychological well-being determinants and involves Malaysian respondents with a collectivistic eastern culture.

Teacher Depressive Symptoms and Child Math Achievement in Head Start: The Roles of Family-Teacher Relationships and Approaches to Learning

This study examined the direct and indirect associations of teachers' depressive symptoms with children's math achievement through teachers' reports of family-teacher relationships and children's approaches to learning (ATL) in Head Start. This study included 3- and 4-year-old 1,547 children (49% female; 27% White, 24% Black, 41% Hispanic/Latino, and 8% others) who attended Head Start from fall 2014 through spring 2015. Results indicated that teachers' depressive symptoms were directly associated with lower gains in children's math skills over a year. In addition, teachers who reported higher depressive symptoms were less likely to report positive family-teacher relationships. This, in turn, resulted in lower gains in children's ATL and was associated with lower achievement in math skills (r²  = .69).

Depressive and anxiety symptoms in early childhood education teachers: Relations to professional well-being and absenteeism

This study investigated how early childhood education teachers' (N = 444) depressive and anxiety symptoms predicted their professional well-being outcomes and absenteeism over the course of one school year in Ghana. Higher anxiety and depressive symptoms predicted lower job motivation and job satisfaction and higher levels of emotional exhaustion at the end of the school year. Increased depressive symptoms were further associated with more days absent over the course of the school year. Findings point to the importance of considering teachers' mental health for early educational quality. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

The health status of the early care and education workforce in the USA: a scoping review of the evidence and current practice

Background

More than two million early care and education (ECE) providers care for young children in the USA each day. These providers tend to earn low wages and many are enrolled in public assistance programs. Nearly all ECE providers are female and they are disproportionately women of color. Despite the fact that these attributes place the ECE workforce at greater risk of chronic disease, the health status of the workforce is not established and the availability and effectiveness of interventions to improve their health status is also not known.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review of both the published literature and current practice to identify all articles and interventions targeting the health status of the ECE workforce. Our search strategy identified scientific articles published in English within the past 10 years as well as any interventions targeting the ECE workforce that have been implemented within the past 3 years. Data from both scientific articles and practice were extracted using systematic methods and summarized.

Results

Thirteen studies described some component of physical health including diet quality (11 studies), physical activity (8 studies), and height/weight/body mass index (7 studies), and 21 studies assessed component(s) of mental health including depression (15 studies), stress (8 studies), and mindfulness (3 studies). ECE providers reported a high prevalence of overweight, obesity, and chronic disease diagnoses and spend significant time being sedentary, and some report low diet quality. Mental health concerns in this population include depression and high stress. Eleven interventions targeting ECE workforce wellness were also identified; most focused on nutrition, physical activity and/or stress.

Conclusion

The limited evidence available for review describes a workforce in need of health promotion interventions to address high levels of mental and physical health challenges, some above and beyond peers with comparable demographic characteristics. Several promising interventions were identified from both the published and unpublished literature; these interventions should be further implemented and evaluated to assess their impact on the workforce.