| Description |
Educators take on an important role in teaching youth. However, the job of an educator comes with many stressors. Coronavirus, commonly referred to as COVID-19, presented new challenges for educators and students, primarily requiring most schools to adhere to a novel concept such as online instruction, seemingly overnight. These demands continued to add to educators' existing levels of stress, resulting in heightened levels of job burnout. Burnout results in nearly 50% of educators leaving the education field within their first 5 years costing the U.S. nearly 2 billion dollars annually in turnover expenses. Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBIs) that comprise an eight-week program of daily mindfulness training, have been successful in reducing burnout and stress among various populations. However, the lengthy nature of such programs is associated with various cost and time barriers for many people, for example busy educators, thereby inhibiting their participation. The purpose of this research was to develop a brief mindfulness training for educators. Over 230 educators participated in two, 1-hour, online mindfulness training sessions. Some participants completed pre and post questionnaires assessing stress scores, burnout levels, demographics, mindfulness awareness, and more from established measures. One month after the brief mindfulness training, some educators participated in a focus group to further understand educators' stressors and support systems. Pre- and post-data data analysis indicated a significant decrease in educator stress scores. Though results on other measures were not significant pre to post, the data gave valuable insight into Utah educator stress and burnout levels during COVID-19. Further, stress levels were higher in educators with less than 5 years of service compared to those with more than 5 years of service. The research team continues to explore systematic approaches to brief MBIs to address educator stress and burnout, including the creation of a mindfulness checklist as reminders for educators to complete daily for 2-8 weeks after completing a brief MBI as well as implementing educator mindfulness schoolwide. The results from this brief mindfulness-based intervention increased insight into educator burnout levels and the need for intervention; further, the research encourages more research on educator burnout levels and how to increase the effectiveness of brief MBIs in reducing burnout. |
