Teachers show improvements in burnout after stress reduction intervention

A randomized controlled trial of the Mindfulness based stress reduction course or mMBSR which is designed for teachers was carried out by a group of researchers from University of Wisconsin. Lisa Flook, Ph.D. led the research. She and her colleagues found the course very helpful and effective for teachers. The participants showed improvements in classroom organization, computer task performance and also displayed significant reduction in burnout. After eight week of the course, there was a drop in cortisol functioning in the group of participants. There were noted improvements in attentional bias as well as self compassion. The changes were going as expected and the intervention shows promise in helping teachers deal with burnout. "This pilot study indicates that mMBSR may be one intervention modality that has potential for systematic implementation as a part of teachers' professional development," the authors write. The study was published in Mind, Brain, and Education.