Positive Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Mental Health of Female Teachers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy

Alessio Matiz, Franco Fabbro, Andrea Paschetto, Damiano Cantone, Anselmo Roberto Paolone and Cristiano Crescentini
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Alessio Matiz: Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Franco Fabbro: Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Andrea Paschetto: Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Damiano Cantone: Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy
Anselmo Roberto Paolone: Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Cristiano Crescentini: Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-22

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent public health measures were shown to impact negatively on people’s mental health. In particular, women were reported to be at higher risk than men of developing symptoms of stress/anxiety/depression, and resilience was considered a key factor for positive mental health outcomes. In the present study, a sample of Italian female teachers ( n = 66, age: 51.5 ± 7.9 years) was assessed with self-report instruments one month before and one month after the start of the Covid-19 lockdown: mindfulness skills, empathy, personality profiles, interoceptive awareness, psychological well-being, emotional distress and burnout levels were measured. Meanwhile, they received an 8-week Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation (MOM) course, through two group meetings and six individual video-lessons. Based on baseline personality profiles, analyses of variance were performed in a low-resilience (LR, n = 32) and a high-resilience (HR, n = 26) group. The LR and HR groups differed at baseline in most of the self-report measures. Pre–post MOM significant improvements were found in both groups in anxiety, depression, affective empathy, emotional exhaustion, psychological well-being, interoceptive awareness, character traits and mindfulness levels. Improvements in depression and psychological well-being were higher in the LR vs. HR group. We conclude that mindfulness-based training can effectively mitigate the psychological negative consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak, helping in particular to restore well-being in the most vulnerable individuals.

Keywords: COVID-19; longitudinal study; mindfulness meditation; resilience; school teachers; self-reports; women’s mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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