Effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on emotional regulation and levels of mindfulness in senior students

Abstract Mindfulness-based interventions have been applied in diverse populations and achieved mental health benefits. This study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness program for emotional regulation and levels of mindfulness on senior students in Brazil. The intervention consisted of six weekly meetings attended by 30 participants. It is a pre-experimental research, with pre- and post-test comparative and correlation measurements. The preliminary results, which relied on parametrical and non-parametrical tests, revealed a reduction in total emotional regulation difficulties (p = 0.0001; r = - 0.55). Also, there was an increase in the levels of mindfulness in the subtests for both dimensions under evaluation: "Awareness" (p = 0.0001; d =0.77) and "Acceptance" (p = 0.048; d =0.37). By associating the amount of meditative practices performed by students with the variables, a significant positive correlation was found with the mindfulness dimension "Awareness" (rP = 0.422; p = 0.020), and there was a significant negative correlation with Difficulties in emotion regulation (rS = - 0.478; p = 0.008) and with its respective subscales "Non-acceptance" (rS = - 0.654; p = 0.0001) and "Clarity" (rS = - 0.463; p = 0.010). In conclusion, the application of a brief mindfulness-based intervention is promising in Brazilian university contexts; moreover, it can bring benefits to students, e.g., an increase in emotion regulation as well as in levels of mindfulness. We suggest that further research should use an experimental design and follow-up.

Motivação docente: estudo bibliométrico da relação com variáveis individuais, organizacionais e atitudes laborais / Teacher motivation: bibliometric analysis of the relationship with individual and organizational variables, and work attitudes

A motivação dos professores é essencial para o sucesso das políticas educativas. Ao estudar-se a motivação docente é necessário examinar características da escola e do professor. Devido à importância deste tema, torna-se fulcral analisar as investigações efetuadas sobre o mesmo, levando em conta variáveis organizacionais, dado que a escola é uma organização, mas também o capital psicológico positivo e a satisfação no trabalho. Assim, recorreu-se a um estudo bibliométrico utilizando-se a base de dados Web of Science (WoS), onde se definiu o período de pesquisa para os anos 2000-2013 e se consideraram unicamente os trabalhos pertencentes à área da psicologia. No total, 33 documentos cumpriram os critérios de inclusão, verificando-se que: (a) 2012 foi o ano com mais publicações; (b) a satisfação no trabalho foi o construto mais estudado com a motivação docente; (c) a categoria psicologia educacional registou mais documentos; e (d) o inglês foi a língua dominante nestes trabalhos. Os Estados Unidos da América e o Canadá obtiveram os valores mais elevados nos indicadores bibliométricos número de documentos (Ndoc) e número de investigadores (Nres), apresentando Israel uma produtividade (Prod) superior à dos restantes países. Estes resultados são discutidos, bem como as principais implicações dos mesmos.

Teachers' motivation is essential to the success of educational policies. When studying this concept, it is necessary to examine school and teacher characteristics. Due to the relevance of this theme, it becomes crucial to analyze the body of research conducted about it, taking into account organizational variables -as schools are organizations- but also psychological capital and work satisfaction. Therefore, a bibliometric study was conducted using Web of Science (WoS) database, having defined the search period for the years 2000-2013 and only considering works that belong to the psychology field. 33 documents in total fulfilled the inclusion criteria, where it was verified that: (a) 2012 was the year with most publications; (b) work satisfaction was the concept which was most frequently studied, along with teacher motivation; (c) the educational psychology category had the most documents; and (d) English was the dominant language in these works. The United States of America and Canada obtained the highest values in the following bibliometric indicators: number of documents (Ndoc) and number of researchers (Nres), and Israel had a higher level of productivity (Prod) than the other countries. The results and their implications are discussed.