Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion Program for Educators (MBHP - Educa). (Mindfulness)

Development and Implementation of Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion Program for Educators (MBHP - Educa): Evaluation of Cognitive Functions and Epigenetic Modifications.

In the last few decades, the world has seen a significant increase in the occurrence of occupational diseases related to Burnout Syndrome (professional exhaustion) and stress in educators. These disorders affect mental health and teaching activity. In this way, they need to develop socio-emotional skills to cope with the psychosocial stressors related to the school environment. Currently, mindfulness-based therapies have been recommended to help educators acquire emotional self-control, and to improve self-esteem, metacognition, attention, resilience and affectivity, in addition to better the social skills needed in the school milieu. The main objective of the proposed research project is to elaborate a program of Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion - educators (MBHP - educa) to be applied to a population of Brazilian public school educators. The efficacy of the program will be evaluated by cognitive testing. Blood tests for the above-mentioned stress-related molecules will be performed. The goal of developing the MBHP - educa Program is to promote and ameliorate the health care of public school teachers. Developing such a research proposal will contribute to debate and implement public health policies focussed on promoting the health of public school teachers in Brazil.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress; Cognitive Impairment; Burnout Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: MBHP-Educa

Detailed Description

In the last few decades, the world has seen a significant increase in the occurrence of occupational diseases related to Burnout Syndrome (professional exhaustion) and stress in educators. These disorders affect mental health and teaching activity. In this way, they need to develop socio-emotional skills to cope with the psychosocial stressors related to the school environment. Currently, mindfulness-based therapies have been recommended to help educators acquire emotional self-control, and to improve self-esteem, metacognition, attention, resilience and affectivity, in addition to better the social skills needed in the school milieu. A few published studies indicate that mindfulness practices also reduce some inflammation- and stress- related molecules such as cortisol, receptor-interacting serine/threonine kinase 2 (RIPK2), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and epigenetic-regulation related histone deacetilases (HDAC). These indicator molecules can be measured in blood. The World Health Organisation (WHO-2013) recommends the worldwide implementation of strategies for the promotion of mental health, which are particularly aimed at preventing occupational diseases. The main objective of the proposed research project is to elaborate a program of Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion - educators (MBHP - educa) to be applied to a population of Brazilian public school educators. The efficacy of the program will be evaluated by cognitive testing. Blood tests for the above-mentioned stress-related molecules will be performed. The goal of developing the MBHP - educa Program is to promote and ameliorate the health care of public school teachers. Developing such a research proposal will contribute to debate and implement public health policies focussed on promoting the health of public school teachers in Brazil.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 146
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Brazil
  • SP
    • São Paulo, SP, Brazil
      • Centro Mente Aberta de Mindfulness e Promoção de Saúde

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 23 years to 65 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1)Brazilian male or female aged between 23 and 65 years and (2) currently working in the classroom

Exclusion Criteria:

(1) the presence of medical conditions or medications use that might affect inflammatory pathways; (2) report of an infectious condition in the last 15 days before collecting a blood sample; (3) active psychiatric and/or clinical comorbidities potentially life-threatening such as psychosis or suicidal ideation; and (4) had previously practiced or currently practicing meditation, yoga or Tai-Chi

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: MBHP-Educa; Experimental: Intervention Group A novel Mindfulness-based Health Promotion program for Educators for active teachers will be employed. The intervention will be held once a week for 8-weeks, two-hour meetings (16.0-h total). Participants will be encouraged to meditate for 10-30 min/day via audio recording.	Other: MBHP-Educa; This intervention is a meditative practice which the individuals will practice in their daily life following the MBHP-educa protocol
NO_INTERVENTION: Control Group; Control Group Teacher education as usual. These participants will participate in teacher training (Neuroscience for Education - Neuro Educa). The Neuro-Educa will be held once a week for 8-weeks, two-hour meetings (16.0-h total).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF)	To evaluate quality of life through five subscales: physical domain - mean of responses psychological domain - mean of responses relationships domain - mean of responses environment domain - mean of responses quality of life and perception of life - mean of responses *each question response range one to five points Higher scores - Better Quality of Life	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index	To evaluate the Sleep Quality - sum of responses score *each questions have a specific conversion to range zero to six Higher scores - better sleep quality	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Morningness-eveningness questionnaire - sum *Range 16 to 86 *higher scorer - more morningness type	To evaluate person's circadian rhythm (biological clock) (sum of all responses)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Glutathione metabolism from blood samples	GSH plasma levels, Cysteine and homocisteine serum levels	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)	to evaluate the level of subjectively noticed stress, composed of 10 items	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Determination of cytokine levels in serum samples.	To evaluate the interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) e interleukin-12p70 (IL-12p70) *Concentration in micromol per liter. (mean and standard deviation, median and quartile per groups)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Connor-Davidson Resilience Rating Scale	The CD-RISC is a 25-item measure of resilience.	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)	To evaluate positive and negative Affect through two subscales: positive affect - sum negative affect - sum; each question range one to five; higher score - more frequent	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)	To evaluate the mindfulness trace through five subscales: OBSERVING - mean DESCRIBING - mean NONJUDGE - mean NONREACT - mean ATC WITH AWARENESS - mean; each question range one to five; higher score - more mindful	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test - RAVLT	To evaluate memory (number of word remember)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Stroop test	To evaluate attention and inhibitory behavior (number of errors and time)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Digit span test	To evaluate work memory (maximum lenght)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Trail Making Test - TMT	To evaluate attention (time to trail every letter or/and number)	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAADS)	To evaluate anxiety and depression symptoms through two subscales: anxiety - sum depression - sum; each question range zero to four; higher score - more symptons	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)
Burnout Clinical Subtypes Questionnaire - BCSQ-12	To evaluate the burnout clinical subtypes through three subscales: Overload - mean, standard deviation and median Lack of development - mean, standard deviation and median Neglect - mean, standard deviation and median *each question response range one to seven points Higher scores - More Symptons of Burnout	Pre-test, Post-test and follow-up (12 months)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Marcelo Demarzo, MD, PhD

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): March 5, 2018
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): July 5, 2019
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): July 5, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 15, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 10, 2019
• First Posted (ACTUAL): February 12, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): March 3, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 1, 2021
• Last Verified: March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: 92876418.2.0000.5505

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No