Effects of Mindfulness Training on Emotional Care

Teachers in Hong Kong are susceptible to professional stress and its associated psychosomatic illnesses. To enhance teachers' well-being, mindfulness training is conducted in local schools. The present study is a randomized controlled trial to investigate 1) the effects of mindfulness training on teachers' well-being (i.e. general health, positive affect, life satisfaction, stress, negative affect), and 2) the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of mindfulness (i.e. emotional care strategies including anchoring, decentering, and acceptance). Participants will be randomized to either intervention (8-week .b Foundations/ .begin course) or waiting-list control condition. They will complete survey before (baseline), after (post-intervention), and two-months (follow-up) after the intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health Issue
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: 8-week mindfulness program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 299
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Jockey Club "Peace and Awareness" Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 18 years old or above
• Working in local schools or education institutions
• Willing to participate in mindfulness training voluntarily

Exclusion Criteria:

• Experiencing severe or unstable mental health condition currently
• Completed 8-week mindfulness training previously
• Unwilling to go by random assignment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Wait-list control; Participants in wait-list control group will receive the same intervention, two months after their counterparts in experimental group completed the intervention.
Experimental: 8-week mindfulness program; 8-week .b Foundations course	Behavioral: 8-week mindfulness program; The .b Foundations course is an 8-week mindfulness program developed by Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) for school teachers and personnel. It includes a taster session and 8 weekly sessions. Each session lasts for 1.5 hours with a specific theme (e.g. Lesson 1 waking up from autopilot). Formal and informal mindfulness practices (e.g. mindful eating, body scan, mindful walking, habit releaser etc.), psychoeducation, cognitive exercises, inquiry, and home practice are involved.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in General Health	General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), 12 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Stress	Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), 10 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Anchoring	5 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Decentering	Non Reactivity Subscale of Chinese Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-C), 4 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Acceptance	Acceptance subscale of Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R), 3 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Positive affect	Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), 4 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Negative affect	Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), 4 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Mindfulness	Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R), 12 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Life satisfaction	Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, 5 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Reappraisal	Reappraisal subscale of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), 6 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Suppression	Suppression subscale of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), 4 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention
Change in Distraction	5 items, 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always)	Baseline, Immediately after intervention, Two-months after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
• Collaborators: Chinese University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 15, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 19, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 8, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 6, 2021
• Last Verified: September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mindfulness; teacher mental health; mindfulness-based intervention for teachers; emotional care
• Other Study ID Numbers: UHongKong(PandA)

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