Mindfulness and yoga self-care workshop for Northern Ugandan teachers: A pilot study

Abstract

Teacher stress is evident in many developed countries; however, teacher stress is also evident in many low-income sub-Saharan countries such as Uganda where teachers face additional challenges compared to their North American/European counterpart. The goal of this study was to pilot test a mindfulness and yoga self-care workshop designed for teachers working in post-conflict Northern Uganda to help them cope with stress. Twenty teachers participated in the workshop and were compared to a group of matched wait-list teachers on psychological well-being measures. Results show that self-care teachers showed greater reductions in levels of anger, fear, sadness and perceived hostility, and greater increases in levels of emotional support and friendship compared to wait-list teachers. Moreover, longitudinal exploratory data analyses suggest that many of these effects gradually emerge over the course of the three-month school term. These finds are discussed in the context of how school psychologists can help teachers in developing countries through from yoga-based, mindfulness-type programs, and the need for more scaled-up research.

Resilience After Trauma in Kosovo and Southeastern Europe: A Scoping Review

“…Findings from a pilot study in Kosovo with adolescents who participated in a six-week mind and body program, which included several strategies such as meditation, biofeedback-guided imagery, movement, and breathing, showed that these children reported a decrease in PTSD symptoms, suggesting the beneficial effects of these kinds of programs may translate to this region (Gordon et al, 2004). Again, showing commonalities with another post-conflict society, mindfulness and yoga classes were demonstrated to be effective in terms of reduction of levels of fear, anger, and sadness among teachers in northern Uganda (Matsuba & Williams, 2020).…”

Factors influencing teacher wellbeing and burnout in schools: A scoping review1

“…Studies recommend that happy teachers have better work engagement and express supportive behaviors towards workfellows [103]. Mindfulnessbased strategies appeared as a cost-effective way to promote all kinds of wellbeing [55][56][57][104][105][106]. Mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions and yoga can improve wellbeing of teachers and decrease their stress [58,64,93,105].…”

“…Mindfulnessbased strategies appeared as a cost-effective way to promote all kinds of wellbeing [55][56][57][104][105][106]. Mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions and yoga can improve wellbeing of teachers and decrease their stress [58,64,93,105].…”