Crain 2017

Source:   RESEARCH STUDY/ARTICLE

APA Citation:

Crain, T. L., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., & Roeser, R. W. (2017). Cultivating teacher mindfulness: Effects of a randomized controlled trial on work, home, and sleep outcomes. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(2), 138-152.

Author bio:

Tori L. Crain – Colorado State University – Department of Psychology

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl – University of British Colombia – Human Early Learning Partnership, School of Population and Public Health, Department of Educational & Counseling Psychology, and Special Education

Robert W. Roeser – Portland State University – Department of Psychology

Funding:

Spencer Foundation, Fetzer Institute, Mind and Life Institute, and Portland State University

Method:

*WMT = workplace mindfulness training

The particular WMT  used in the current study is based on MBSR techniques but was designed specifically for educators. It aims to cultivate mindful awareness and self-regulation of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and behavior, in addition , the program cultivates the attitudes of compassion and forgiveness toward oneself and others. It uses facilitated mindfulness practices, group discussions and activities, lectures, and homework assignments to apply these skills and attitudes to the demands of everyday life, including work life. 139

Rumination refers to ‘a mode of responding to distress that involves repetitively and passively focusing on symptoms of distress and on the possible causes and consequences of these symptoms … rumination or perseverative thinking, is characterized by (a) its frequency, (b) as involving automatic and controlled processing, and (c) as hindering goal attainment. Rumination has been suggested to be a maladaptive coping response to stressful experiences. 141

Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), self-reporting on specific items (rumination, mood, sleep)

Central Argument/Thesis:

The current study utilizes an RCT design and examines whether or not randomization to a WMT for public school teachers who volunteer for the program is associated with outcomes in three domains: work, home, and sleep … examine[s] if the WMT improves subjective wellbeing (i.e. negative moods at work and home, work and home satisfaction).

This study is part of a growing trend in organizational researched aimed at examining if, and how, workplace programs offered through the workplace can have effects on employees that extend beyond the workplace to employees’ home lives and to the important context of sleep. 139

Hypothesis:

1.      Teachers randomized to WMT will report greater improvements in mindfulness and rumination about their job while at home at post-program and 3-month follow-up compared to those randomized to the waitlist control condition 141

2.      Teachers randomized to WMT will report greater improvements in their context-specific feelings of negative mood at work and at home in post-program and 3-month follow-up compared to those randomized to the control condition 141

3.      WMT-related group differences in teachers’ mindfulness and frequency of rumination about their work when at home at post-program will mediate the effects of WMT on context-specific moods at 3-month follow-up 141

Discussion – Conclusion:

Results showed that teachers randomized to WMT reported less frequent bad moods at work and home, greater satisfaction at work and home, more sleep on weekday nights, better quality sleep, and decreased insomnia symptoms and daytime sleepiness 138

Results … show teachers who are randomized to WMT versus waitlist report greater increases in mindfulness and decreases in rumination on their jobs at home; greater improvements in their felt satisfaction and mood at work and at home; greater improvements in sleep quality and the quantity of sleep during weekday nights, improvements in insomnia symptoms, and less sleepiness during the day 147

Mindfulness interventions seem to hold considerable promise for generating such spillover effects from work to home, perhaps due to learning of domain-general awareness and regulation skills regarding basic mind-body processes 147

Results also showed that reductions in rumination on work at home among teachers in the WMT contributed to reductions in negative mood at home at 3-month follow-up. 149

Our results show that reductions in domain-specific, job-related rumination at home is another way that mindfulness training can improve moods at work and home, and alleviate depression in teachers. 149

Studies to investigate:

Bracket, M. A., Palomera, R., Mojsa-Kaja, J., Reyes, M. R., & Salovey, P. (2010). Emotion-regulation ability, burnout, and job satisfaction among British secondary-school teachers. Psychology in the Schools, 47, 406-417.

Flook, L., Goldberg, S. B., Pinger, L., Bonus, K., & Davidson, R. J. (2013). Mindfulness for teachers: A pilot study to assess effects on stress, burnout and teaching efficacy. Mind, Brain, and Education, 7, 182-195.

Hulsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J. E. M., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. B. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: The role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 310-325.

Klassen, R. M., & Chiu, M. M. (2010). Effects on teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 741-756.

Roeser, R. W. (2014). The emergence of mindfulness-based interventions in educational settings. In T. Urdan & S. Karabenick (Eds.), Motivational interventions (pp. 379-419). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S0749-742320140000018010

Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Hanson-Peterson, J. L., & Hymel, S. (2015). Social and emotional learning and pre-service teacher education. In J. A. Durlack, R. P. Weissberg, C. E. Domitrovich, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice (pp. 406-421). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Taylor, D., Harrison, J., Haimovitz, K., Oberle, E., Thomson, K., Schonert-Reichl, K., & Roeser, R. W. (2016). Examining ways that a mindfulness-based intervention reduces stress in public school teachers: A mixed methods study. Mindfulness, 7, 115-129.

Wolever, R. Q., Bobinet, K. J., McCabe, K., Mackenzie, E. R., Fekete, E., Kusnick, C. A., & Baime, M. (2012). Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace: A randomized controlled trail. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17, 246-258.