Results from a pre-post, uncontrolled pilot study of a mindfulness-based program for early elementary school teachers

Teachers' stress and training in a school-based mindfulness program: Implementation results from a cluster randomized controlled trial

School-based mindfulness trainings (SBMT) are a contemporary approach for intervening to promote students' social and emotional skills and well-being. Despite evidence from the larger field of evidence-based social and emotional learning programs demonstrating the importance of high-quality implementation, few studies have investigated factors impacting the implementation of SBMTs, particularly teacher-level influences. The present study addressed this issue by investigating whether teachers' stress, trust in their fellow teachers and principal, and expectations about the program at baseline predicted the quality of their implementation of a SBMT for students. In addition, we examined whether teachers' stress at baseline moderated the effect of training condition on implementation quality. Implementation quality was assessed via observations and teacher self-reports. Results from a sample of British secondary (middle-high) school educators (N = 81) indicated that teachers who felt more supported by their principals at baseline were later observed to implement the SBMT with greater quality, whereas teachers who had more positive expectations about the program felt more confident teaching the course in the future. Teachers' baseline stress moderated the effect of training condition on all measures of implementation quality; among teachers experiencing high stress at baseline, more intensive training led to higher quality implementation. Implications for practitioners and prevention researchers are discussed.

Nurturing child social-emotional development: evaluation of a pre-post and 2-month follow-up uncontrolled pilot training for caregivers and educators

BACKGROUND

Social-emotional capacities contribute to children's mental health by helping them navigate their own and others' emotional states and forge healthy relationships. Caregivers and educators are critical socialization agents in early and middle childhood, but gaps remain in the systematic integration of social-emotional research into caregiver and educator trainings. The aim of this pilot study was to test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a social-emotional training designed to promote caregivers' and educators' capacities to support social-emotional development in children ages 3-8 years.

METHODS

Fifty adults (n = 24 caregivers of children ages 3-8 years, n = 26 educators working with children ages 3-8 years) participated in a virtual training over 3 weeks. Participants completed pre-training, post-training, and 2-month follow-up questionnaires evaluating their knowledge of social-emotional concepts, use of training strategies, mental health, and satisfaction with the training. Caregivers also reported children's social-emotional capacities and mental health.

RESULTS

On average, caregivers and educators completed 83% of the virtual training sessions and reported high satisfaction with the training. Further, preliminary evidence indicated that caregivers' and educators' knowledge of social-emotional concepts increased pre- to post-training and was maintained at the 2-month follow-up. Increases in caregivers' and educators' knowledge and greater use of training strategies were associated with improvements in children's social-emotional capacities and caregivers' and educators' own mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

These pilot results support the feasibility of infusing evidence-based social-emotional content into caregiver and educator training initiatives aimed at nurturing child social-emotional development and mental health. The results inform future evaluation of the short- and long-term benefits of this training with a full-scale randomized controlled trial design.

The Selah Pilot Study of Spiritual, Mindfulness, and Stress Inoculation Practices on Stress-Related Outcomes Among United Methodist Clergy in the United States

The job-demand-control-support model indicates that clergy are at high risk for chronic stress and adverse health outcomes. A multi-group pre-test-post-test design was used to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and range of outcome effect sizes for four potentially stress-reducing interventions: stress inoculation training, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), the Daily Examen, and Centering Prayer. All United Methodist clergy in North Carolina were eligible and recruited via email to attend their preferred intervention. Surveys at 0, 3, and 12 weeks assessed symptoms of stress, anxiety, and perceived stress reactivity. Heart rate variability (HRV) was assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using 24 h ambulatory heart rate monitoring data. A subset of participants completed in-depth interviews and reported skill practice using daily text messages. Standardized mean differences with 95% and 75% confidence intervals were calculated for the change observed in each intervention from baseline to 3 and 12 weeks post-baseline to determine the range of effect sizes likely to be observed in a definitive trial. 71 clergy participated in an intervention. The daily percentage of participants engaging in stress management practices ranged from 47% (MBSR) to 69% (Examen). Results suggest that participation in Daily Examen, stress inoculation, or MBSR interventions could plausibly result in improvement in stress and anxiety at 12 weeks with small-to-large effect sizes. Small effect sizes on change in HRV were plausible for MBSR and Centering Prayer from baseline to 12 weeks. All four interventions were feasible and acceptable, although Centering Prayer had lower enrollment and mixed results.

Achtsamkeit in der Schule (AISCHU) – Evaluation der Weiterbildung für Lehrkräfte zur Stressreduktion

Hintergrund

Positive Effekte von achtsamkeitsbasierten Programmen im Kontext Schule wurden bereits vielfältig belegt. Das in dieser Studie evaluierte Konzept Achtsamkeit in der Schule (AISCHU) richtet sich an Lehrkräfte und SchülerInnen und soll deren Stresswahrnehmung und Selbstregulationsfähigkeit schulen. Im Fokus dieser explorativen Studie steht erstmals der präventive Nutzen der AISCHU-Weiterbildung für Lehrkräfte und deren psychische Gesundheit.

Methodik

Etablierte Messinstrumente bezüglich Stresserleben (PSQ), Burn-out-Gefährdung („Tedium measure“ (TM)), Wohlbefinden (WHO-5) und Achtsamkeit (FFA, MAAS) wurden im Prä-Post-Vergleich eingesetzt. Die Daten beziehen sich auf 36 Lehrkräfte unterschiedlicher Schulformen.

Ergebnisse

Es ergaben sich hinsichtlich aller untersuchten Messgrößen signifikante Verbesserungen mit z. T. großen Effektstärken.

Schlussfolgerung

In dieser explorativen Pilotstudie zu AISCHU für Lehrkräfte konnten erstmals vielversprechende Hinweise auf die Wirksamkeit im Sinne von Stressreduzierung, Burn-out-Risikominimierung sowie Verbesserung der Lebensqualität bei belasteten LehrerInnen beobachtet werden.

Zusatzmaterial online

Zusätzliche Informationen sind in der Online-Version dieses Artikels (10.1007/s11553-021-00870-9) enthalten.