Improving emotion regulation and mood in teacher trainees: Effectiveness of two mindfulness trainings

Abstract

Background/Objective The present research investigated potential effects of mindfulness training on emotion regulation and mood of future schoolteachers in a nonrandomized pre–post design, and whether these are influenced by the yoga component of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) and/or by homework practice. Method N = 169 university students received either mindfulness training (experimental groups), awareness activities (active control group), or no training (passive control group), in the context of university seminars. Allocation to groups was bound by the seminar chosen by participants, and in that sense was self‐selected. Mindfulness was trained in two adapted MBSR courses, one of which including yoga, and the other excluding yoga. Results Specific benefits of both mindfulness training groups were observed for emotion regulation in terms of an increase in cognitive reappraisal and a reduction in symptom‐focused rumination as well as depressive mood. No benefits of mindfulness training were observed for reductions in expressive suppression, self‐focused rumination, anxious, and negative mood or an increase in distraction and positive mood respectively. Mindfulness training with and without yoga was mostly equally effective. Outcomes were largely not moderated by practice quantity or quality, but reductions in depressive mood were mediated by gains in reappraisal and distraction. Conclusions Mindfulness training can be implemented in the context of university seminars to foster advantageous emotion regulation strategies and lower depressive mood in future schoolteachers. Discontinuing yoga within mindfulness interventions does not seem to reduce training benefits.

Preventing Stress Among Undergraduate Learners: The Importance of Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, and Emotion Regulation

“…That is, learners who possess a repertoire of effective emotional regulation strategies and an understanding of when to implement appropriate regulation approaches are often more able to respond in an adaptive manner when confronted with sources of stress. Given evidence suggesting self and emotional regulation strategies can be taught (Bandura, 2005;Boyle et al, 2017;Wimmer et al, 2019), we believe intervention efforts should incorporate explicit training (e.g., direct instruction, modeling of how to respond to emotional stimuli) to help learners accumulate knowledge of effective coping and emotion regulation strategies. Although accumulated knowledge certainly plays an important role in emotion regulation, it is not sufficient to ensure learners will engage with emotional information in an appropriate manner (Hodzic et al, 2018).…”

Mindfulness Training for Improving Attention Regulation in University Students: Is It Effective? and Do Yoga and Homework Matter?

“…Group allocation was self-selected in so far as it depended on the classes that the students attended. Nevertheless, students were only informed about the study at the first seminar session and were free to take the class without study participation (see also Wimmer et al, 2019). The flow of participants through the study is illustrated in Figure 1.…”

“…The second author led two classes for the mindfulness training group that included yoga and one class contributing to the passive control group. The third author held three seminars receiving the awareness activity and one seminar for the passive control group (see also Wimmer et al, 2019). Treatment fidelity was ensured by the instructors through mutual discussions to adjust the content and implementation of the seminars and interventions.…”

“…Mindfulness training was implemented in seven bi-weekly sessions. The sessions lasted 1.5 h, during which theoretical information on mindfulness was provided (about 45 min) and mindfulness was practiced, relying on aspects of MBSR (about 45 min; see also Wimmer et al, 2019). The mindfulness training sessions drew on the well-established method of MBSR (Kabat-Zinn, 1990), however, they were strongly adapted to the setting of university classes, which is why the term MBSR is not used to name the MBI under investigation.…”

“…In this article, we report a sub-project of a large trial with university students. Another sub-project of this trial that looked at mindfulness-based effects on emotion regulation and mood has been reported in Wimmer et al (2019). Here, we focus on a distinct data set, 2 investigating whether mindfulness training embedded into regular university seminars improves students' attention regulation.…”