Mindfulness for teachers: A pilot study to assess effects on stress, burnout and teaching efficacy

By Lisa Flook, Simon B. Goldberg, Laura Pinger, Katherine A Bonus, Richard J. Davidson. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2013

687 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Despite the crucial role of teachers in fostering children's academic learning and social-emotional well-being, addressing teacher stress in the classroom remains a significant challenge in education. The present study reports results from a randomized controlled pilot trial of a modified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (mMBSR) adapted specifically for teachers. Results suggest the course may be a promising intervention, with participants showing significant reductions in psychological symptoms and burnout, improvements in observer-rated classroom organization and performance on a computer task of affective attentional bias, and increases in self-compassion. In contrast, control group participants showed declines in cortisol functioning over time and marginally significant increases in burnout. Furthermore, changes in mindfulness were correlated in the expected direction with changes across several outcomes (psychological symptoms, burnout, sustained attention) in the intervention group. Implications of these findings for the training and support of teachers are discussed.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2fa17f546003140985a08e95559a16d7efbfed8c

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Citations in the corpus

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. (2015, background): “[54] Public elementary school teachers (18) Tx = 46.”
Examining Ways That a Mindfulness-Based Intervention Reduces Stress in Public School Teachers: a Mixed-Methods Study (2016, background): “New research on MBIs for teachers is beginning to demonstrate the efficacy of such programs and practices with regard to reducing teachers’ job stress and burnout, and increasing their feelings of well-being (Benn et al. 2012; Flook et al. 2013; Jennings et al. 2013; Kemeny et al. 2012; Roeser et al”
Teacher Burnout: A Review of Sources and Ramifications (2015, background): “and openness to experience [43], lack of received mindfulness intervention [38]”
Mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace: An inclusive systematic review and meta-analysis of their impact upon wellbeing (2018, background): “Finally, Flook et al. (2013), John et al. (2012), and Roeser et al. (2013) included job performance measures.”
Promoting Stress Management and Wellbeing in Educators: Feasibility and Efficacy of a School-Based Yoga and Mindfulness Intervention (2016, background): “Although some CI programs for educators (e.g., MBSR, Flook et al. 2013; Frank et al. 2013; SMART, Roeser et al. 2013) do include some yoga practice, there is scarce research on the feasibility and effectiveness of primarily yoga-based programs to support educators’ wellbeing and professional…”
A Meta-analysis of the Impact of Social and Emotional Learning Interventions on Teachers’ Burnout Symptoms (2021, methodology): “Source Participants Intervention Study design Outcomes content covered two SEC domains, namely self-awareness and self-management group participants (d = − 0.35) Flook et al. (2013).”
Impacts of the CARE for Teachers Program on Teachers’ Social and Emotional Competence and Classroom Interactions (2017, background): “However, interpretation and generalizability have been limited by small samples (Beshai, McAlpine, Weare, & Kuyken, 2016; Flook et al., 2013; Franco, Manas, Cangas, Moreno, & Gallego, 2010; Frank, Reibel, Broderick, Cantrell, & Metz, 2015; Jennings et al., 2013; Poulin, Mackenzie, Soloway, &…”
Teacher wellbeing: a review of the literature (2017, background): “Flook et al. (2013) describe how “a mindful approach to stress may involve noticing body sensations, observing thoughts, and emotions related to stress and practicing self-compassion” (p.183).”