- The study examined the association between mindfulness and emotional problems experienced by school staff (teachers, principals, counselors) in Slovenia, Croatia, and Sweden. - School staff completed questionnaires measuring mindfulness skills and emotional problems. Results showed that higher levels of the mindfulness skills of "accepting without judgement" and "acting with awareness" predicted fewer emotional problems across all three countries. These two skills explained over 30% of the variance in experienced emotional problems. - The capacity to "describe" experiences was also a significant predictor of fewer emotional problems for Slovenian school staff. Overall, mindfulness skills accounted for over 35% of the variance in emotional problems between countries. The study suggests increasing mindfulness training may help reduce emotional

1. BEING MINDFUL PREDICTS EXPERIENCING LESS EMOTIONAL
PROBLEMS IN SCHOOL STAFF: A STUDY IN THREE EU COUNTRIES
Manja Veldin1, Svenja Vieluf2, Greta Wiklund Lind³, Iva Odak⁴ and Ana Kozina1
1Educational Research Institute (Slovenia), 2DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (Germany), ³Mid Sweden
University (Sweden), ⁴Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (Croatia)
Social-emotional and intercultural (SEI) competencies have documented
positive effects on individual-level and school-level outcomes. One of the
five main social-emotional competencies is self-awareness (CASEL, 2015),
which can be reached by mindfulness training.
Mindfulness
“a process of regulating attention with the aim of bringing awareness to
the present experience and relating to one’s experience within the
orientation of curiosity, experiential openness, and acceptance”
❖ is associated with a variety of wellbeing constructs:
✓ better regulation (enhanced self-awareness),
✓ positive emotional states,
✓ lower stress and
✓ less mood disturbance (Brown & Ryan, 2003).
Tackling teacher’s mindfulness skills can influence, apart from their well-
being, their teaching and relationships with students. Furthermore,
mindful teachers have a higher quality of teacher-student relationships,
which is one of the key predictors of children’s later social and emotional
competencies and academic achievement.
The aim of the present study was to analyse the associations between
mindfulness and experienced emotional problems in primary school
teachers, principals, counsellors and other school staff from three EU
countries (Slovenia, Croatia, and Sweden).
Introduction
Participants
The randomized sample consisted of school staff from 36 primary
schools from three countries (N = 276); Slovenia (N = 116), Croatia (N =
79) and Sweden (N = 81).
Instruments
→ The Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al., 2004),
assesses 4 mindfulness skills: Observe, Describe, Act with awareness and
Accept without judgement. Cronbach´s α: .66 - .90.
→ The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman et al.,
1998), measures problems with conduct, emotions, peer relations,
prosocial behaviours and hyperactivity. We used the emotional problems
scale. Cronbach´s α: .84 to .90.
Procedure
This study is a part of evaluation the Erasmus + project: HAND in HAND:
Social and Emotional Skills for Tolerant and Non-discriminative Societies
(A Whole School Approach). In September 2018 teachers, principals and
other school staff completed an online version of questionnaires.
The results suggest that increasing mindfulness skills could lead to lesser emotional problems experienced by school staff. Furthermore, people who have
more emotional problems could have less capacity to be mindful because they are overwhelmed by their problems. These are some of the results from the
first measurement from the HAND in HAND field trials, which consisted of a randomized quasi-experimental trial in the selected countries, using mindfulness
practice as one of the core ingredients in a whole-school approach programmes. For more information visit: https://handinhand.si
Key references
Ancona, M. R., & Mendelson, T. (2014). Feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a yoga and mindfulness intervention for school teachers. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 7(3), 156–170.
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., & Allen, K. B. (2004). Assessment of mindfulness by self-report: The Kentucky inventory of mindfulness skills. Assessment, 11(3), 191–206.
Becker, B. D., Gallagher, K. C., & Whitaker, R. C. (2017). Teachers’ dispositional mindfulness and the quality of their relationships with children in Head Start classrooms. Journal of School Psychology, 65(June), 40–53.
Bishop, S. R., Bishop, S. R., Turner, J. A., Anderson, M. L., Balderson, B. H., Cook, A. J., Sherman, K. J., & Cherkin, D. C. (2016). Mindfulness : A Proposed Operational Definition Mindfulness : A Proposed Operational Definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 157(3),
2434–2444.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848.
CASEL. (2015). CASEL Guide: Effective social and emotional learning programs - Middle and high school edition. Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, 1–45.
Coffey, K. A., Hartman, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2010). Deconstructing Mindfulness and Constructing Mental Health: Understanding Mindfulness and its Mechanisms of Action. Mindfulness, 1(4), 235–253.
Downes, P., & Cefai, C. (2017). How to Prevent and Tackle Bullying and School Violence: Evidence and Practices for Strategies for Inclusive and Safe Schools, NESET II report. In International Journal of Emotional Education (Vol. 9, Issue 1).
Goodman, R., Meltzer, H., & Bailey, V. (1998). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. International Review of Psychiatry, 15(1–2), 173–177.
Kadziolka, M. J., Di Pierdomenico, E. A., & Miller, C. J. (2016). Trait-Like Mindfulness Promotes Healthy Self-Regulation of Stress. Mindfulness, 7(1), 236–245.
Maloney, J. E., Lawlor, M. S., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., & Whitehead, J. (2016). Handbook of Mindfulness in Education: Intergrating Theory and Research into Practice. Handbook of Mindfulness in Education: Integrating Theory and Research into Practice, 394.
OECD. (2015). Skills for Social Progress: the power of Social and Emotional Skills. In OECD skills studies (Issue Cc).
Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects. Child Development, 88(4), 1156–1171.
Table 2. Mindfulness components as predictors of emotional problems across
countries
School staff from Slovenia and Croatia report higher Act with awareness and
lower Accept without judgement than Sweden school staff. Furthermore, the
Croatian and Sweden school staff have reported less emotional problems than
Slovenian ones.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of mindfulness components and emotional problems
across countries
All mindfulness dimensions account for 51,2% of the variance in experiencing
emotional problems of school staff in Slovenia, 39,2% in Croatia and 36,3% in
Sweden. Results show that there are two components of mindfulness (Accept
without judgement and Act with awareness) that are important negative
predictors for the experienced emotional problems in all participating countries.
They alone explain 49,1% of the variance in Slovenia, 38,0 % in Croatia and
32,6% in Sweden. The capacity to Describe is a component that is also an
important predictor in Slovenia, and just above the p-value border in Sweden.
Slovenia Sweden Croatia
M SD M SD M SD
Observe 3,82 0,64 3,79 0,76 3,80 0,60
Describe 3,66 0,65 3,83 0,70 3,80 0,67
Act with awareness 3,40 0,48 3,16 0,46 3,39 0,49
Accept without judgement 3,46 0,76 3,68 0,618 3,47 0,64
Emotional problems 2,46 0,76 2,02 0,64 2,20 0,66
B (SE) ß t R2 R2*
Slovenia (F (4, 111) = 29,143, p = .000)
Constant 6,411 (,483) 13,270***
Observe -,006 (,085) -0,005 -,069
Describe -,178 (,086) -0,151 -2,073*
Act with awareness -,478 (,116) -0,303 -4,114***
Accept without judgement -,479 (,075) -0,479 -6,390*** ,512 ,495
Sweden (F (4,76) = 10,808; p =.000)
Constant 5,267 (,574) 9,176***
Observe ,017 (,086) 0,020 ,197
Describe -,184 (,093) -0,200 -1,980
Act with awareness -,435 (,135) -0,316 -3,233**
Accept without judgement -,336 (,091) -0,365 -3,704*** ,363 ,329
Croatia (F (4,74) =11,919; p =000)
Constant 5,302 (,578) 9,177***
Observe -,007 (,104) -0,006 -,066
Describe -,115 (,100) -0,116 -1,154
Act with awareness -,285 (,139) -0,211 -2,047*
Accept without judgement -,484 (,103) -0,466 -4,699*** ,392 ,359
Results
Method
Conclusions
Contact: manja.veldin@pei.si
Network: 08. Health and Wellbeing Education, Session ID: 08 SES 00 PS