Abstract
Addressing teachers’ ability to better navigate stress and emotional responses has the potential to improve classroom behaviors, student learning as well as teachers’ wellbeing. While there is growing interest in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), there is need for greater attention to design aligned with relevant theories and transparent reporting to improve the rigor and translation of research. While utilized widely in health and behavior fields, behavior change theory has not been applied extensively in education or MBI research. This descriptive methodological paper articulates the intervention mapping and design process of an MBI to improve teachers’ stress and emotional regulation. To improve reporting, we use a post hoc application of a well-established behavioral model. Application of the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) as part of an intervention mapping approach for an MBI to align teacher’s needs with intervention elements most likely to achieve desired behavioral outcomes. The paper illustrates an approach which includes defining the problem in behavioral terms, identification of target behaviors and behavioral change techniques, and selection of strategies and modes of intervention delivery. A systematic intervention mapping approach applying the BCW can yield a holistic MBI for the desired behavior change, enhanced emotion and stress regulation in teachers. This example of applying the BCW to the design of an MBI demonstrates how intervention designers and researchers can make decisions about which techniques and delivery components to include in their interventions, and how to systematically describe them. Such approaches have the potential to improve the reporting and methodological rigor of future MBI research and the successful application of interventions in practice.
Highlights
Stress among teachers is a growing problem which negatively affects their own health, as well as student learning
The inability of teachers to effectively navigate stressors results in their own emotional reactivity and rumination behaviors (Skinner & Beers, 2016). This can lead to undesirable behaviors and outcomes including diminished capacity to engage in their own self-care build effective teacher-student relationships, implement evidence-based practices, and innovate classroom activities and lessons to meet student learning needs (Hwang et al, 2017; Larson et al, 2018; Lomas et al, 2017; Roeser et al, 2012; Schussler et al, 2018)
We subsequently applied the steps in the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) to articulate the issues considered in the mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) mapping and design process including identifying the problem, describing it in behavioral terms, determining intervention functions, and selecting behavior change techniques and modes of delivery
Summary
Stress among teachers is a growing problem which negatively affects their own health, as well as student learning. Teachers find themselves adapting to rapidly changing instructional environments and uncertainties These new challenges add to the many contributors to teacher stress including limited financial resources, growing class sizes, diminished autonomy, highstakes testing (Gallup, 2014; Kena et al, 2015; McCarthy et al, 2017) and threats of physical violence (Espelage et al, 2013). Teachers often lack the training to manage stress and promote emotional wellbeing for themselves and others (Greenberg et al, 2016). Given these circumstances, it is little surprise that a staggering number of educators, especially newer teachers and those in high-poverty, urban and rural schools, are leaving the profession at a rapid rate (Haynes et al, 2014; Ingersol et al, 2018; MetLife, 2012). This limits their capacity to implement effective teaching strategies (Larson et al, 2018) as well as the
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