The Value of Workshops on Psychological Flexibility for Early Childhood Special Education Staff

Abstract

High stress and burnout are common for early childhood special educators, contributing to high rates of attrition, diminished educational effectiveness, and high turnover. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a promising approach for the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of problems. Using a randomized wait-list control design, this pilot study evaluated whether ACT workshops delivered to preschool teachers who serve children with developmental disabilities would improve stress-related problems of teachers (i.e., stress, depression, and burnout) and increase collegial support. At pretest, measures of experiential avoidance (EA) and mindful awareness (MA) showed significant relationships to reports of depression, stress, and burnout. The intervention reduced staff members' EA, increased teachers' MA and valued living (VL), and improved teachers' sense of efficacy. This suggests that ACT workshops can help influence factors affecting depression, stress, and burnout in an early childhood special education setting.

Teacher Distress and the Role of Experiential Avoidance

“…There is growing support for using acceptance‐ and mindfulness‐based professional development programs to help teachers address job stress and burnout (Biglan et al., ; Jeffcoat & Hayes, ). The evidence is consistent with studies showing the value of mindfulness‐based interventions, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training (ACT), in other organizational settings (Bond & Bunce, , ), as well as research demonstrating ACT's effectiveness with a diverse range of clinical conditions, including anxiety and depression (Bohlmeijer, Fledderus, Rokx, & Pieterse, ; Hayes, Bach, & Boyd, ; Hayes, Boyd, & Sewell, ; Zettle, ; Zettle et al., ).…”

“…We used a 24‐item version of Part B (teacher domain). Biglan et al () utilized data reduction techniques to develop this version and found that decreasing the number of items did not adversely affect reliability. Item responses are on a 7‐point Likert‐type scale and range from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 6 ( strongly agree ).…”

Special Education Teacher Burnout: A Synthesis of Research from 1979 to 2013

“…Biglan, Layton, Jones, Hankins, and Rusby (2013) found three variables to be associated with SET burnout: experiential avoidance, mindful awareness, and valued living. Experiential avoidance, or an individual's desire to avoid disagreeable situations, thoughts, or feelings, correlated positively with burnout.…”

Acceptance and Commitment Training in the workplace

“…Additional research outcomes have supported the use of ACTraining to mitigate stress levels for university personnel [45 ], early childhood special education teachers [46], and staff members working with individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities [47,48]. Mental health workers receiving six ACT-related phone consultations reported improvement in dealing with burnout and a significant progress in personal accomplishment [49].…”