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<p>Alternative therapies are promising nursing interventions for improvement of compassion fatigue in educators working in special education. A convenience sample of 27 teachers and professional staff working in special education participated in a quasi-experimental pilot study and completed a pre/posttest of demographic questions, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (10-item) and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL). All attended a presentation on stress, compassion satisfaction (CS), mindfulness, prayer, and social support. Nearly, one half received weekly electronic text message reminders encouraging use of mindfulness and prayer. All were offered support groups. Use of alternative therapies was self-selected and self-reported. Significant improvement occurred in posttest PSS scores ( p = .0485) of participants with the highest reported levels of use of mindfulness. ProQOL CS scores ( p = .0289) and PSS scores ( p = .0244) significantly improved when evaluating difference in means between groups with the highest levels and lowest levels of prayer and mindfulness. ProQOL burnout scores ( p = <.0001) increased from pretest to posttest. Findings were not significant in regard to reminders and social support.</p>
AbstractThis study aimed to investigate the efficacy of an attention training technique (ATT) on pain ratings, threshold and tolerance during the cold pressor task. One hundred and three undergraduate students were randomly assigned to receive either threat-alleviating or threat-inducing information
The heavy demands of teaching result in many teachers becoming alienated or burning out. Therefore, it is imperative to identify ways to support teachers’ internal capacities for managing stress and promoting well-being. Mindfulness is an approach with a growing foundation of empirical support in clinical as well as education settings. Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) is a mindfulness-based professional development program developed to improve teachers’ awareness and well-being and to enhance classroom learning environments. Using an explanatory design, we analyzed data from four focus groups each with three to eight teachers who participated in CARE to explore the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects. Specifically, we examined if/how the CARE intervention affected teachers’ awareness and analyzed why CARE affected particular aspects of teachers’ physical and emotional health and why some aspects were not affected. Results suggest that participants developed greater self-awareness, including somatic awareness and the need to practice self-care. Participants also improved their ability to become less emotionally reactive. However, participants were less likely to explicitly articulate an improvement in their teaching efficacy. Implications for professional development are discussed.
The heavy demands of teaching result in many teachers becoming alienated or burning out. Therefore, it is imperative to identify ways to support teachers’ internal capacities for managing stress and promoting well-being. Mindfulness is an approach with a growing foundation of empirical support in clinical as well as education settings. Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) is a mindfulness-based professional development program developed to improve teachers’ awareness and well-being and to enhance classroom learning environments. Using an explanatory design, we analyzed data from four focus groups each with three to eight teachers who participated in CARE to explore the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects. Specifically, we examined if/how the CARE intervention affected teachers’ awareness and analyzed why CARE affected particular aspects of teachers’ physical and emotional health and why some aspects were not affected. Results suggest that participants developed greater self-awareness, including somatic awareness and the need to practice self-care. Participants also improved their ability to become less emotionally reactive. However, participants were less likely to explicitly articulate an improvement in their teaching efficacy. Implications for professional development are discussed.
The heavy demands of teaching result in many teachers becoming alienated or burning out. Therefore, it is imperative to identify ways to support teachers’ internal capacities for managing stress and promoting well-being. Mindfulness is an approach with a growing foundation of empirical support in clinical as well as education settings. Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) is a mindfulness-based professional development program developed to improve teachers’ awareness and well-being and to enhance classroom learning environments. Using an explanatory design, we analyzed data from four focus groups each with three to eight teachers who participated in CARE to explore the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects. Specifically, we examined if/how the CARE intervention affected teachers’ awareness and analyzed why CARE affected particular aspects of teachers’ physical and emotional health and why some aspects were not affected. Results suggest that participants developed greater self-awareness, including somatic awareness and the need to practice self-care. Participants also improved their ability to become less emotionally reactive. However, participants were less likely to explicitly articulate an improvement in their teaching efficacy. Implications for professional development are discussed.
Patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often experience anxiety and depression in relation to their respiratory condition. Anxiety and depression in this population are associated with decreased activity. The aim of this phenomenological study was to carry out in-depth qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of patients with asthma and COPD taking part in an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course to explore their experiences of MBCT. In particular, we were interested in how the mindfulness approach helped them, or not, and their awareness of any meaningful changes in relation to their breathlessness, activity levels, anxiety or low mood. Twenty-two patients were recruited from primary and secondary care to receive an 8-week course in MBCT. Two groups of MBCT were taught by qualified MBCT teachers in a community setting. Of the 22 patients who attended the MBCT course, 12 patients were purposively sampled to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview 2 months after completing the MBCT course. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was thematic. The themes that emerged included greater acceptance and reduced sense of disease-related stigma; noticing subtle bodily sensations to detect early warning signs of breathlessness; linking pulmonary rehabilitation advice with mindfulness; developing a new relationship to breathing, activity and associated thoughts; having a greater sense of control; being creative around limitations and removing psychological barriers to being more active. Findings offer, for the first time, qualitative evidence on how MBCT benefits patients with asthma and COPD who experience anxiety and depression. These data provide a useful adjunct to existing quantitative evidence in this area.
Patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often experience anxiety and depression in relation to their respiratory condition. Anxiety and depression in this population are associated with decreased activity. The aim of this phenomenological study was to carry out in-depth qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of patients with asthma and COPD taking part in an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course to explore their experiences of MBCT. In particular, we were interested in how the mindfulness approach helped them, or not, and their awareness of any meaningful changes in relation to their breathlessness, activity levels, anxiety or low mood. Twenty-two patients were recruited from primary and secondary care to receive an 8-week course in MBCT. Two groups of MBCT were taught by qualified MBCT teachers in a community setting. Of the 22 patients who attended the MBCT course, 12 patients were purposively sampled to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview 2 months after completing the MBCT course. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was thematic. The themes that emerged included greater acceptance and reduced sense of disease-related stigma; noticing subtle bodily sensations to detect early warning signs of breathlessness; linking pulmonary rehabilitation advice with mindfulness; developing a new relationship to breathing, activity and associated thoughts; having a greater sense of control; being creative around limitations and removing psychological barriers to being more active. Findings offer, for the first time, qualitative evidence on how MBCT benefits patients with asthma and COPD who experience anxiety and depression. These data provide a useful adjunct to existing quantitative evidence in this area.
Mindfulness offers a wide range of benefits for teachers and students, however, less is known about the role of mindfulness in the work of principals. Current tools that assess instructional leadership, which is a major part of the principalship, omit issues of mindfulness. Further, measures of mindfulness connect little to instructional leadership to make meaningful assessment of the mindful instructional leadership of administrators. The study discusses development of the Principal Resilience for Educator and Student Success (PRESS), a 20-item self-assessment of principal instructional practices and beliefs concerned with cognitive processes shown to support mindfulness: preoccupation with failure, commitment to resilience, deference to expertise, resistance to simplify, and sensitivity to operations. Data were gathered and analyzed from a representative statewide sample of principals in Washington State. Findings reveal differing degrees of variability on specific mindful instructional leadership practices. Scores generated by PRESS are compared to respondent scores on the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R); results indicate positive correlation between the PRESS Mindful Instructional Leadership (MIL) single factor score and the CAMS-R mindfulness single factor score. Use of the tool as part of principal professional growth, as well as further research to examine the relationship between mindfulness in instructional leadership and school improvement, are recommended.
Theory of mind (ToM) development is fostered by parent-child interactions characterized by accurate reflection on the child's mental states, or reflective function (RF), by the caregiver. Therefore, attachment-based RF is the foundation upon which children learn to reason about minds outside the attachment context (domain-general ToM). However, it is not known to what extent attachment-based RF of the self versus caregivers uniquely relates to domain-general ToM. Additionally, it is likely that for psychopathology associated with maladaptive parent-child dynamics (i.e., borderline pathology), domain-general ToM impairments are more strongly related to attachment-based RF disturbances. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate associations between domain-general ToM and attachment-based RF to determine whether RF of the self versus caregivers has unique relations to domain-general ToM. Second, we tested whether borderline pathology would moderate this relation. Among a sample of inpatient adolescents (N = 330 adolescents; Mage = 15.40, SD = 1.44), findings suggest that RF of the self uniquely relates to domain-general ToM and that this relation is strongest among adolescents with high levels of borderline pathology. Therefore, evidence supports theory regarding the association between attachment-based RF and domain-general ToM. Additionally, interpersonal disturbance observed in borderline pathology, even in adolescence, is related to attachment-based social-cognition.
School personnel encounter numerous occupational stressors unique to their profession, and these stressors place educators at risk of job-related stress and burnout. Given the prevalence of stress and burnout among school personnel, concrete interventions designed to address the unique demands and enhance coping resources of school personnel are necessary. One promising mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for school personnel, Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE), is introduced and explored. Using semi-structured interviews, the current study investigated how participants applied mindfulness strategies learned through the mindfulness-based intervention CARE. Participants reported shifting their emotional reactivity and approach to students by applying mindfulness through (1) present-centered awareness of emotions, (2) emotional reappraisal of situations, and (3) use of metaphors introduced through the CARE program. Results suggest that the CARE program is a promising approach to support school personnel experiencing stress and burnout.