A Complementary Intervention to Promote Wellbeing and Stress Management for Early Career Teachers

Stevie-Jae Hepburn, Annemaree Carroll and Louise McCuaig-Holcroft
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Stevie-Jae Hepburn: School of Education, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia
Annemaree Carroll: School of Education, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia
Louise McCuaig-Holcroft: School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: The educational climate and culture in our schools present a variety of environmental (contextual) factors that influence teacher wellbeing, job satisfaction, and work-related stress. The magnitude of contextual factors cannot be ignored, and directing attention towards the environment teachers face daily is essential. Primary (organisational)-level interventions are documented in organisational health and wellbeing literature; however, to provide teachers with stress management strategies for promoting wellbeing, attention must also be directed towards secondary (individual)-level interventions. The present study addressed the issue of stress management techniques for early career teachers ( n = 24) and aimed to contribute to the research surrounding complementary interventions (CIs) for educators. The intervention was designed to include strategies that operated through cognitive and physiological mechanisms that regulated the stress response and increased awareness of behaviours, emotions, and reactivity. The self-report measures included perceived stress, attention awareness, subjective wellbeing, burnout, and job-related affective wellbeing. The results indicated a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress and increases in attention awareness and subjective wellbeing. The salivary cortisol levels (waking and resting) decreased from baseline to week 6, and the pre- and post-session salivary cortisol levels indicated an immediate decrease in cortisol for weeks 4 to 6.

Keywords: wellbeing; teacher stress; yoga; perceived stress; stress management; health; positive psychology; mindfulness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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