Brief Mindfulness-based Intervention for Indonesian Teacher in Rural Area

Investigating the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Intervention on Teachers' Stress and Psychological Well-being in Rural Indonesia

A randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the brief mindfulness on teachers' perceived stress and their psychological well-being.

Teacher in early childhood education (ECE) in Indonesia is experiencing high intense stress due to work environment, class management, child behaviour problem, and lack administrative support. Stress has also shown negatively impact their psychological well-being, quality of teaching, and to children's' executive function. Research about stress and the effects on teacher well-being is especially lacking for rural schools. They represent a forgotten minority and thus, teacher from rural area need a prompt and direct support in terms of stress management strategies.

This study employs a randomized wait-list controlled trial design (RCT) with an assessment before and after treatment. 4-weeks brief mindfulness-based protocol will be given to 40 teachers as experimental group. 40 other teachers receive wait-list treatment will assign as control group. Measurement of perceived stress level will be using Indonesian version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), psychological wellbeing will be measure using Indonesian Well-being Scale (IWS), and mindfulness traits will be measure using Indonesian version of Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Data analysis using MANOVA and ANOVA to measure the differences between groups and within groups for all tests and constructs measured.

Inclusion Criteria:

• minimum two years of work experience as early childhood education teacher.
• minimum 25 years of age.
• scoring Moderate (total score 14-26) to High (total score 27-40) perceived stress on PSS-10

Exclusion Criteria:

• have received any formal / manualized mindfulness training prior.
• have ever been diagnosed with chronic stress or other related mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, PTSD.
• people with a history or tendency to commit suicide.
• people with addictive substance dependence who are recovering less than one year.