Effects of a Mobile Phone-based Mindfulness Intervention for Teachers, and how Mindfulness Trait Correlates with Stress, Wellbeing, Burnout, and Compassion

Sammanfattning: Abstract Objectives The aim of the study was to examine effects of mindfulness on stress, wellbeing, compassion and burnout, conducting a brief mobile phone-based mindfulness intervention on teachers. Methods Fifty-five teachers from private and public schools, including pre-school, elementary school, middleschool, secondary- and upper secondary school and adult education school was recruited. 25 teachers completed pre- and post-test (mindfulness, N=20, relaxation, N=5). High dropouts in control led to exclusion of this group in pre- to posttest analysis. The mindfulness treatment comprised of ten minutes of mindfulness meditation for ten sessions at a time and place convenient to the teacher. Results Findings showed that the mindfulness group significantly improved mindfulness trait, and wellbeing, a trend of increased compassion was also found. Overall stress, and teacher-specific stress decreased significantly in the mindfulness group. Burnout showed no significant differences. Correlation tests including all teachers at pre-test showed that high mindfulness trait was associated with higher compassion, wellbeing, and lower levels of stress and burnout. At post-test, high mindfulness trait was associated with higher compassion, wellbeing, and lower levels of burnout and stress, however, not teacher-specific stress. Increases in mindfulness trait from pre- to posttest was related to improvements in all five health outcomes. Conclusions This mobile phone-based mindfulness intervention showed significant improvements on several health outcomes on teachers. Findings indicate that mindfulness trait may explain the change in health outcomes. The current study argues for the need of considering teacher-specific context in digital interventions to improve adherence and preventing dropouts.