Mindfulness and Psychological Distress in Kindergarten Teachers: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence

The interplay among EFL teachers' emotional intelligence and self-efficacy and burnout

Considering the essential role of teachers and their characteristics in language education, their emotions are the main focus of recent studies. Emotions such as burnout which usually happens due to stress, can hinder their career progress so it needs to be addressed as it affects both learners and teachers respectively. Another construct is self-efficacy which contemplates the teachers' confidence in their aptitudes and it may reduce the probability of burnout and prevent job stress. Also, Emotional intelligence (EI) is an eminent variable in this field that is a significant predictor of job performance. Therefore, this study attempted to address English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' burnout by associating the effects of these factors such as EI and self-efficacy. Accordingly, 400 EFL teachers agreed to participate and were given three relevant questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized and the findings indicated that both teacher self-efficacy (β = -0.123, p < .05) and emotional intelligence (β = -0.14, p < .05) are significant predictors of burnout. The two variables jointly could explain 4.3 % of variances in teacher burnout. Teacher self-efficacy has a significant direct effect on burnout with standard estimate of -0.123 (p = .03). It also has a positive effect on emotional intelligence with standardized estimate of 0.245 (p = .000). Emotional intelligence, in turn, has a negative effect on burnout with standardized estimate of 0.14 (p = .16). The mediation analysis showed that the indirect effect of teacher self-efficacy is 0.034 (p = .017). Finally, some implications and recommendations for EFL stakeholders are presented.

Organizational climate of kindergartens and teacher professional learning: mediating effect of teachers' collective efficacy and moderating effect of mindfulness in teaching

Introduction

This study was aimed at testing a moderated mediation model of teaching mindfulness and teachers' collective efficacy in the relationships between the organizational climate of kindergartens and teacher professional learning.

Methods

A sample of 1,095 kindergarten teachers completed self-report questionnaires assessing their perceptions of the organizational climate of kindergartens, collective efficacy, teaching mindfulness, and professional learning.

Results

Controlling for teaching experience and kindergarten level, the results show that kindergarten organizational climate significantly and positively predicted teacher professional learning and the collective efficacy of teachers played a partial mediating role between them.Furthermore, moderation analysis revealed that teaching mindfulness moderated the relationship between kindergarten organizational climate and teacher professional learning.

Discussion

These results expand our understanding of how the organizational climate of kindergartens affects teacher professional learning. In practice, professional learning of kindergarten teachers can be facilitated by creating an open organizational climate and improving their ability to perceive the collective. Furthermore, the moderating role of teaching mindfulness suggests that intervening in teachers' teaching mindfulness possibly is an influential way to maximize the impact of kindergarten organizational climate on professional learning.

The melody of language learning at intermediate and upper levels: an emphasis on free discussion panels as an indispensable part of language classes and the effects on willingness to communicate, growth mindfulness, and autonomy

This qualitative study investigated the impact of discussion panels on language education, focusing on willingness to communicate (WTC), growth mindfulness, and autonomy among Chinese learners at intermediate and upper-intermediate proficiency levels. The study, conducted in Hebei, China, involved 27 learners, with 14 in the experimental group exposed to discussion panels and 13 in the control group receiving traditional teacher-fronted lessons. The research design employed semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis for data collection, analyzed manually through thematic analysis. Results revealed that learners in the experimental group exhibited heightened WTC, increased growth mindfulness, and greater autonomy compared to the control group. The discussion panels facilitated authentic language use, collaborative discourse, and turn-taking, aligning with communication theory, sociocultural theory (SCT), and learner-centered pedagogy. Findings also resonated with the significance of WTC in language learning, supported by established theories. Additionally, the study contributes to the growing literature on the intersection of mindfulness, autonomy, and language education. Implications for language teachers, policy-makers, syllabus-designers, and materials developers are discussed, emphasizing the potential benefits of integrating discussion panels. The study concludes with insights into limitations, suggestions for further research, and a call for pedagogical innovation to enhance language learning experiences.

Randomized crossover clinical trial of a Mindfulness-based intervention for nurse leaders: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE

to analyze the effects of a Mindfulness-based intervention on nurse leaders' emotional intelligence and resilience.

METHOD

a pilot study of a randomized crossover clinical trial. The sample (n=32) was randomized into Group A (n=18) and Group B (n=14) and evaluated at the pre-test, post-test and follow-up moments. The outcomes were assessed using the Emotional Intelligence Measure, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Questionnaire and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and analyzed using Generalized Linear Mixed Models.

RESULTS

a total of 32 nurses with a mean age of 42.6 years old were evaluated. The analyses showed significant interactions between the effects of the group x moment factors on the Self-motivation (p=0.005), Sociability (p<0.001), Self-control (p=0.013), and Total (p=0.002) emotional intelligence skill scores; as well as on the Observe (p=0.042), Describe (p=0.008), Non-judgment (p<0.001), Act with awareness (p=0.004) and Total (p<0.001) mindfulness facets. Post-test: there was a statistically significant increase in the Sociability (p=0.009) and Self-control (p=0.015) emotional intelligence skills; as well as in the Non-judgment (p=0.022) and Total (p=0.002) mindfulness facets. Follow-up: a significant increase was observed in the Non-judgment (p=0.024) and Total (p=0.026) mindfulness facets. The "resilience" variable did not present statistical significance in the "group x moment" factor, both in the post-test and during follow-up.

CONCLUSION

the Mindfulness-based intervention used proved to be effective in increasing nurse leaders' emotional intelligence and dispositional mindfulness skills. Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (RBR-3c62gy), registered on March 4 th , 2020, updated on September 16 th , 2022.

BACKGROUND

(1) Unpublished study of a Mindfulness-based intervention with nurse leaders.

BACKGROUND

(2) Positive effect on the participants' emotional intelligence and mindfulness.

BACKGROUND

(3) Advances in knowledge about emotional intelligence and leadership resilience.

BACKGROUND

(4) It encourages the implementation of sensitive and innovative health strategies.

Is Mindful Parenting Associated with School-Aged Children's Meta-Mood? Exploring the Role of Children's Mindfulness

Previous studies have shown that mindful parenting is associated with children's emotional development. The current study explored the association between mindful parenting and school-aged children's meta-mood, with children's mindfulness as a potential mediator. A total of 375 valid parent-child pairs were recruited from two primary schools in China. Parents' mindful parenting and children's meta-mood were measured at baseline. Five months later, children completed measures of mindfulness and meta-mood. The results indicated that mindful parenting directly and indirectly predicted school-aged children's meta-mood, with the latter mediated by children's mindfulness. This study contributes to the field of emotional development in school-aged children. The results of this study imply that intervention in mindful parenting may foster school-aged children's healthy emotional development through children's mindfulness.

Interventions to Reduce Stress and Burnout among Teachers: A Scoping Review

Background: Teaching is recognized as a highly challenging profession. Experience of chronic stress is a risk factor for poor mental and physical well-being, and burnout. There is limited knowledge regarding optimal interventions to address stress and burnout among teachers. Objective: To undertake a scoping review of the literature in the last five years to determine various psychological interventions to address stress and burnout among teachers. Method: The PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was followed. Relevant search terms were used to determine different interventions adopted to reduce teachers' stress and burnout. Articles published between 2018 and 2022 were identified using five bibliographic databases. Relevant articles were extracted, reviewed, collated, and thematically analyzed, and findings s were summarized. Results: Forty studies conducted in Asia, North America, Oceania, Europe, and Africa, met the inclusion criteria. Sixteen kinds of burnout and stress-reduction interventions were identified. The most popularly studied intervention were Mindfulness-Based Interventions alone or in combination with yoga or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), followed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). Mindfulness-Based Interventions led to decreased overall Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) and emotional exhaustion subscale scores. REBT, primarily used with special education teachers, especially in Africa, has also shown positive results. Other interventions reporting positive outcomes include Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction (IBSR), the Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program (SMART), Cyclic Meditation, Group Sandplay, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Autogenic Training, Sport-Based Physical Activity, Emotional Intelligence Ability Models and Christian Prayer and Prayer-Reflection. Conclusions: Stress and burnout can have a negative impact on teachers and, very often, on the students they teach. Implementing suitable school-based interventions is necessary to improve teachers' stress-coping ability, reduce the likelihood of burnout and improve general well-being. Policymakers, governments, school boards and administrators should prioritize the implementation of school-based awareness and intervention programs.

The relationship between preschool teacher trait mindfulness and teacher-child relationship quality: the chain mediating role of emotional intelligence and empathy

The teacher-child relationship plays an important role in children's future development. However, the existing research mainly focuses on the influence of preschool teachers' external conditions on the teacher-student relationship, while the research on the influence of teachers' internal psychological characteristics on the teacher-student relationship is relatively lacking. In this study, three hundred and seventeen preschool teachers were tested were tested with Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Emotional Intelligence Scale, Chinese Interpersonal Response Index, and Teacher-student Relationship Scale. The results showed that trait mindfulness positively predicted the quality of parent-teacher relationship (β = 0.173, p = 0.026). Emotional intelligence played a mediating role in trait mindfulness and teacher-child relationship quality (β = 0.118, p = 0.004), and empathy played a mediating role in trait mindfulness and teacher-child relationship quality (β = 0.112, p = 0.001). Meanwhile, emotional intelligence and empathy played a chain mediating role in trait mindfulness and parent-teacher relationship quality (β = 0.044, p = 0.038). On the one hand, this study enriches attachment theory. The conclusions of this study verify the diversity of proximal factors in attachment theory, and confirm the influence of teachers' own characteristics and abilities on the teacher-child relationship quality. On the other hand, by exploring the factors affecting the teacher-child relationship quality, we can find ways to improve teacher-child relationship from a new perspective, and then provide some new methods and approaches for improving the quality of preschool teacher-child relationship.

Associations between kindergarten climate and retention intention of kindergarten teachers: The chain mediating roles of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment

Kindergarten climate has been reported to be closely associated with teachers' retention intention, yet the underlying mechanism of this association remains unclear in some ethnic minority areas in China. Based on the Personal-Environment Fit Theory and Organizational Support Theory, the research aims to examine the correlation between kindergarten climate and retention intention of Chinese kindergarten teachers in ethnic minority areas and the chain mediating role of perceived organizational support, as well as the psychological empowerment. In total, 1,199 Chinese kindergarten teachers were recruited from ethnic minority areas to complete the questionnaires. Based on their responses, the main findings of the study were listed as follows: (1) A supportive kindergarten climate has a positive correlation with perceived organizational support, psychological empowerment, and retention intention. (2) A positive kindergarten climate would increase the retention intention only through the indirect path of perceived organizational support, psychological empowerment, as well as the chain mediating path between these two variables. Taken together, these results further explained the interplay between kindergarten climate and teachers' retention intention. Implications for research on retention intention were discussed. Theoretically, it enriches the theoretical basis related to the external environmental resources and individual cognition. Practically, it means that educational policymakers will need to issue new guidelines to ensure that more kindergarten teachers are retained in China's ethnic minority areas.

Adversity Quotient Promotes Teachers’ Professional Competence More Strongly Than Emotional Intelligence: Evidence from Indonesia

Teachers’ professional competence has become a popular issue since the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study investigates teachers’ professional competence, in terms of emotional intelligence (EI), adversity quotient (AQ), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), when teachers need to deal with abnormal situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this study also seeks to explore the relationship of EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence mediated by OCB. The research data were collected through a questionnaire using a Likert scale from 589 participants: elementary school teachers in Indonesia were chosen through accidental sampling. The data analysis used structural equation modeling (SEM), complemented by common method bias, correlational, and descriptive analysis. The result shows that EI, AQ, and OCB have a significant relationship with teachers’ professional competence. However, AQ more strongly promotes teachers’ OCB and professional competence than EI does. In addition, OCB mediates the relationship between EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence. Accordingly, a new model regarding the relationship of EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence mediated by OCB was confirmed. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers’ professional competence can increase through EI, AQ, and OCB. Hence, the new empirical model deserves to be discussed, adapted, and even adopted by practitioners and researchers to develop the professional competence of teachers in the future.

The Relationship between Mindfulness and Job Burnout of Chinese Preschool Teachers: The Mediating Effects of Emotional Intelligence and Coping Style

Preschool teachers’ job burnout has many adverse effects on their career development; although some studies have examined the influencing factors of teachers’ burnout, less were explored from the perspective of individual factors. This study aimed to examine the relationship between mindfulness and job burnout of preschool teachers, and the mediating effects of emotional intelligence and coping style. A total of 394 preschool teachers in China filled in questionnaires measuring mindfulness, emotional intelligence, coping style, and job burnout. The findings suggested that: (1) mindfulness was negatively related to job burnout; (2) emotional intelligence and negative coping style played independent mediating effects between mindfulness and job burnout; and (3) emotional intelligence and positive coping style played a chain mediating effect between mindfulness and job burnout. The results revealed the mechanism of mindfulness on preschool teachers’ job burnout, which is of great significance for the psychological intervention of preschool teachers in the future.

Does Mindfulness Influence Academic Performance? The Role of Resilience in Education for Sustainable Development

A mindful person is prone to be open to novelty, attentive to distinctions, sensitive to context, aware of multiple perspectives, and focused on the present. Therefore, the role of mindfulness in educational contexts is gaining ground given the great possibilities it offers in developing students’ competences in education for sustainable development (ESD). The main goal of this study is to explore how mindfulness plays a key role in the learning process in response to the need to develop students’ emotional competencies in ESD, and specifically how mindfulness has an impact on academic performance through resilience. We tested the research model with a questionnaire addressed to 497 students from three higher education institutions and one secondary school. The results of a structural equation analysis confirm the study hypotheses. We find mindfulness is positively related to resilience, which leads to better academic performance. Thus, being mindful is a key competence in ESD since it allows young people to face their education with the highest possibilities of training, experience, and personal growth. This exploratory study offers further evidence of the need to invest in mindfulness to foster resilience and academic performance and represents a first step for designing additional interventions on this line.

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Self-Acceptance, and Positive Coping Styles Among Chinese Psychiatric Nurses in Shandong

Background

Nurses are facing increasing pressure due to the progressing of society, broadening of nursing service connotation, and increasing of the masses’ demand for medical treatment. Psychiatric nurses face suicides, violence, and lost along with other accidents involving patients with mental disorders under higher psychological pressure. A coping style, which is affected by individual emotions and cognition, is an essential psychological resource that allows individuals to regulate stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between self-acceptance and the positive coping style of psychiatric nurses, and investigate the mediating role of emotional intelligence.

Methods

A total of 813 psychiatric nurses from six natural regions in Shandong Province were investigated using the Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (SAQ), Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and self-compiled general information questionnaire.

Results

The total EIS score of psychiatric nurses was 3.848 ± 0.459. The highest score was for others’ emotional management (4.071 ± 0.548) and the lowest was for emotion perception (3.684 ± 0.483). EIS and positive coping style were statistically significant based on age, work experience, professional title, education level, and gender (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Self-acceptance was statistically significant only for professional titles (F = 3.258, p = 0.021). Self-acceptance and emotional intelligence were positively correlated with positive coping style (r = 0.361, p < 0.01; r = 0.492, p < 0.01, respectively). The factors were also positively correlated with each other (r = 0.316, p < 0.01). Self-emotion management, others’ emotional management, emotion perception, self-acceptance, and education level jointly predicted positive coping styles (R² = 0.305, F = 60.476, p = 0.000). Emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between self-acceptance and positive coping styles, with a mediating effect of 16.3%.

Conclusion

Emotional intelligence and self-acceptance can promote positive coping styles and improve psychiatric nurses’ mental health.

Does Servant Leadership Control Psychological Distress in Crisis? Moderation and Mediation Mechanism

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of servant leadership on the psychological distress of healthcare staff during the Covid-19 crisis. The authors propose that work engagement mediates and mindfulness moderates the direct relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress.

Methods

Time-lagged data were collected from 277 healthcare staff working at different hospitals in Pakistan. Process Macro version 3.1 on SPSS 23 was used for statistical analysis. For model fitness, we used AMOS V 22.

Results

The results show that servant leadership is negatively related to psychological distress. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress. Moreover, mindfulness is anticipated to moderate the direct relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress, drawing on the social exchange and conservation of resources theory.

Discussion

This study finds that servant leadership is vital for the mental health of healthcare staff. Thus, it extends the utility of the concept of servant leadership to the psychology and crisis management literature.

Teachers' mental health during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

BACKGROUND

Teaching work is stressful, moreover during the pandemic teachers' stress might have been intensified by distance education as well as by limited access to social support, which functions as a buffer in experiencing stress. The aim of the research was to investigate the relation between distance education and teachers' well-being, and their close relations and other social relations during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

The research was conducted in two stages on 285 Polish primary and secondary school teachers who were recruited by means of the chain referral method. The following measures were used: The Depression Anxiety & Stress Scales-21, Berlin Social Support Scales, The Relationship Satisfaction Scale and The Injustice Experience Questionnaire.

RESULTS

The teachers experienced at least mild levels of stress, anxiety and depression, both during the first as well as the second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. It has been confirmed that there is a negative relation between relationship quality change and social relations quality change, and stress, anxiety and depression. The variables taken into consideration in the research have provided the explanation for the variation of stress-from 6% in the first stage of the research to 47% in the second stage; for the variation of anxiety-from 21% to 31%; and for the variation of depression-from 12% to 46%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The research results show that due to distance work the distinction between professional work and family life might have been blurred, and as a consequence teachers' well-being could have been worsened. The isolation put on to stop the spreading of the virus might have contributed to changes in social relations, in close relations in particular, and at the same time negatively influenced teachers' abilities to effectively cope with the crisis situations.