A workplace wellness program protects against COVID-19 effects on mental wellbeing

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effects on workers’ mental wellbeing. The current study investigated the impact of an online workplace wellness program on teacher mental wellbeing and mindfulness during the first four months of nation-wide quarantine in New Zealand. Longitudinal data at three time points were examined: baseline, end of program, and 3 months post-program in a sample of 32 teachers. Tests of paired data of baseline versus the later time points found statistically significant improvements in mental wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburg Mental Wellbeing Scale) and mindfulness (The Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire) with large effect sizes. Mindfulness scores were higher at 3 months follow up compared to end-of-program suggesting teachers’ mindfulness ratings continued to improve after program completion. Implications for research and workplace training are discussed.