Students and Teachers Benefit from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in a School-Embedded Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions

Background:

• Limited research exists on school-embedded mindfulness interventions for both students and teachers.
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a well-established program for stress reduction.
• Investigating psychological variables in both student and teacher populations is crucial for school well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the research gap by evaluating the effectiveness of a school-embedded MBSR program.
• To assess improvements in psychological variables for students and teachers participating in separate MBSR courses.
• To explore potential benefits in mental health, creativity, and interpersonal dynamics.

Main Methods:

• A controlled waitlist design with three measurement points was employed.
• Participants included 29 students and 29 teachers, divided into intervention and waitlist groups.
• Questionnaires were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 4-month follow-up for the intervention group.

Main Results:

• Students showed significant improvements in stress, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and interpersonal problems (p < 0.05).
• Teachers reported significantly higher mindfulness and reduced interpersonal problems (p < 0.05).
• Medium effect sizes were observed for student anxiety and creativity, and for teacher anxiety and emotion regulation.

Conclusions:

• School-embedded MBSR demonstrates positive effects on psychological variables for both students and teachers.
• Findings highlight similarities and differences in MBSR's impact across student and teacher groups.
• The study underscores the importance of investigating interpersonal effects of mindfulness interventions in educational settings.