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The Relationship Between Adopting Mindfulness Practice and Reperceiving: a Qualitative Investigation of CARE for Teachers

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Abstract

Objectives

This study qualitatively examined the relationship between home practice and reperceiving for teachers who participated in the CARE program. We used distress tolerance, mindfulness, burnout, efficacy, compassion, and self-care as proxies for (or direct representations of) underlying components of reperceiving—awareness, emotion regulation, and compassion.

Methods

From a larger study of 224 elementary teachers in a large urban district, 16 teachers were purposively selected for semi-structured interviews. Selected teachers fit one of three profiles: no adopted mindfulness practice; no practice at baseline but practice at post and follow-up; practice at baseline, post, and follow-up. Four coders employed a directed content analysis to (1) investigate the outcomes discretely, examining their prevalence within the three practice groups; (2) analyze the relationships between outcomes and whether these differed across practice groups; and (3) examine teachers’ descriptions of how they used the practices.

Results

There were no differences between practice groups in teachers’ reported amounts of stress, but differences were found across outcomes, specifically mindfulness and efficacy. The no practice group engaged in more suppression and felt less capable of handling their stressors. Teachers who adopted practice described an emerging awareness of their negative emotions, more facility to let go of their stressors, and greater affirmation of the importance of self-care and use of strategies to promote it. Compassion lacked prevalence across practice groups.

Conclusions

Adoption of mindfulness practice may impact teachers’ capacity to reperceive through emotional awareness and self-regulation, but additional research is required to examine the role of compassion.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the teachers and schools who participated in this research. This work would not be possible without them.

Funding

The project described was supported by Grant Award R305A120180 from the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES). The authors are responsible for the study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of data, and the decision to submit this manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the IES or the US Department of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prevention Research Center, Education Policy Studies Department, 204H Rackley Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Deborah L. Schussler, Sebrina L. Doyle & Mark T. Greenberg

  2. Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY, 10458, USA

    Anna DeWeese, Damira Rasheed & Joshua L. Brown

  3. Curry School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Anthony A. DeMauro & Patricia A. Jennings

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  1. Deborah L. Schussler
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Contributions

DLS: designed the study, performed the data analyses, and wrote the paper. AD, DR, AAD, SLD: assisted with data collection, data analysis, and editing of the paper, and execution of the parent study. JLB, MTG, PAJ: provided feedback on drafts and collaborated on the design and execution of the parent study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah L. Schussler.

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Conflict of Interest

In accordance with ethical obligations, PAJ reports that she is one of the developers of the CARE program and, as such, may benefit from publication of this research. DLS, AD, DR, AAD, SLD, JLB, and MTG have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Virginia, Pennsylvania State University, and the New York City Department of Education Institutional Review Boards and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Schussler, D.L., DeWeese, A., Rasheed, D. et al. The Relationship Between Adopting Mindfulness Practice and Reperceiving: a Qualitative Investigation of CARE for Teachers. Mindfulness 10, 2567–2582 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01228-1

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