Preschool Teachers' Psychological Distress and Work Engagement during COVID-19 Outbreak: The Protective Role of Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation.

Mor Keleynikov,Rony Berger,Joy Benatov

doi:10.3390/ijerph19052645

Abstract

COVID-19 has dramatically affected the mental health and work environment of the educational sector. Our primary aim was to investigate preschool teachers’ psychological distress and work engagement during the COVID-19 outbreak, while examining the possible protective role of participating in a mindfulness-based intervention geared to foster compassion (Call2Care-Israel for Teachers; C2C-IT) and emotion regulation. The prevalence of emotional distress, work engagement, and COVID-19 concerns were evaluated in 165 preschool teachers in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Israel through questionnaires. The findings showed that preschool teachers experienced increased emotional distress. Teachers who had participated in the C2C-IT intervention six months before the pandemic outbreak (N = 41) reported lower emotional distress, higher use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and higher work engagement, compared to their counterparts that had not participated in the intervention (N = 124). Emotion regulation strategies mediated the link between participating in CTC-IT intervention and emotional distress and work engagement. Teaching is a highly demanding occupation, especially during a pandemic, thus making it important to invest resources in empowering this population. The findings here suggest that the implementation of a mindfulness-based intervention during the school year can enhance teachers’ well-being, even during stressful events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

Published: 24 February 2022Starting in December 2019, coronavirus (COVID-19) spread rapidly and turned into a global pandemic, disrupting the functioning of societies and posing a mental health threat of great magnitude around the world, for both individuals and communities [1]
(2) To explore the differences between teachers who participated in the C2C-IT intervention before the COVID-19 outbreak and teachers who did not participate in the intervention, on measures of emotional distress, work engagement and Emotion regulation (ER) tendencies during the pandemic
To evaluate preschool teachers’ exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, levels of COVID-19 related concerns, ER tendencies, emotional distress, and work engagement, as well as to explore the differences between teachers who participated in the C2C-IT intervention before the COVID-19 outbreak and teachers who did not participate in the intervention on these measures, independent sample T-tests and chi-square analyses conducted (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Published: 24 February 2022Starting in December 2019, coronavirus (COVID-19) spread rapidly and turned into a global pandemic, disrupting the functioning of societies and posing a mental health threat of great magnitude around the world, for both individuals and communities [1]. The fear of the virus and the restrictions imposed due to its outbreak had a tremendous effect on mental health and changed many facets of people’s lives including at work. Teachers needed to equilibrate their personal and professional roles [6]. Another challenge teachers continue to face is the fear of getting infected, and infecting family members [7], as schools are considered a major source of exposure to COVID-19 [8]. These challenges may be even more daunting for teachers

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