Long-term impacts of the CARE program on teachers' self-reported social and emotional competence and well-being.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine whether the mindfulness-based program CARE could sustain long-term reductions in psychological distress and improvements in emotion regulation and mindfulness among teachers in high-poverty elementary schools.
Results Summary
CARE teachers showed sustained significant decreases in psychological distress and physical distress, along with continued improvements in emotion regulation and some mindfulness dimensions at a 9.5-month follow-up compared to controls.
Population
224 elementary school teachers in high-poverty areas of New York City.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Intervention duration not specified; follow-up assessment at 9.5 months post-intervention.
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mindfulness-based interventions | increase | well-being | healthy adults | - | promote | #1 |
mindfulness-based interventions | decrease | stress | healthy adults | - | reduce | #2 |
mindfulness-based interventions | increase | emotion regulation | - | - | enhance | #3 |
mindfulness-based interventions | decrease | psychological distress | - | - | reduce | #4 |
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) | decrease | psychological distress | CARE teachers | - | showed continued significant decreases | #5 |
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) | decrease | ache-related physical distress | CARE teachers | - | reductions | #6 |
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) | increase | emotion regulation | CARE teachers | - | continued significant increases | #7 |
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) | increase | some dimensions of mindfulness | CARE teachers | - | continued significant increases | #8 |
Teacher stress is at an all-time high, negatively impacting the quality of education and student outcomes. In recent years, mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to promote well-being and reduce stress among healthy adults. In particular, mindfulness-based interventions enhance emotion regulation and reduce psychological distress. One such program specifically designed to address teacher stress is Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE). The present study examined teachers' self-reported data collected at three time points over two consecutive school years as part of a randomized controlled trial of CARE. The study involved 224 teachers in 36 elementary schools in high poverty areas of New York City. Teachers were randomly assigned within schools to receive CARE or to a waitlist control group. This study builds on previous experimental evidence of the impacts of CARE on teacher self-reported outcomes for this sample of teachers within one school year (Jennings et al., 2017). Results indicate that at the third assessment point (9.5 months after participating in the program), CARE teachers showed continued significant decreases in psychological distress, reductions in ache-related physical distress, continued significant increases in emotion regulation and some dimensions of mindfulness. Findings indicate that teachers who participated in mindfulness-based professional development through CARE reported both sustained and new benefits regarding their well-being at a follow-up assessment almost one-year post-intervention compared to teachers in the control condition. Implications for further research and policy are discussed.