Interventions to Reduce Stress and Burnout among Teachers: A Scoping Review.

Background: Teaching is recognized as a highly challenging profession. Experience of chronic stress is a risk factor for poor mental and physical well-being, and burnout. There is limited knowledge regarding optimal interventions to address stress and burnout among teachers. Objective: To undertake a scoping review of the literature in the last five years to determine various psychological interventions to address stress and burnout among teachers. Method: The PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was followed. Relevant search terms were used to determine different interventions adopted to reduce teachers' stress and burnout. Articles published between 2018 and 2022 were identified using five bibliographic databases. Relevant articles were extracted, reviewed, collated, and thematically analyzed, and findings s were summarized. Results: Forty studies conducted in Asia, North America, Oceania, Europe, and Africa, met the inclusion criteria. Sixteen kinds of burnout and stress-reduction interventions were identified. The most popularly studied intervention were Mindfulness-Based Interventions alone or in combination with yoga or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), followed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). Mindfulness-Based Interventions led to decreased overall Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) and emotional exhaustion subscale scores. REBT, primarily used with special education teachers, especially in Africa, has also shown positive results. Other interventions reporting positive outcomes include Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction (IBSR), the Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program (SMART), Cyclic Meditation, Group Sandplay, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Autogenic Training, Sport-Based Physical Activity, Emotional Intelligence Ability Models and Christian Prayer and Prayer-Reflection. Conclusions: Stress and burnout can have a negative impact on teachers and, very often, on the students they teach. Implementing suitable school-based interventions is necessary to improve teachers' stress-coping ability, reduce the likelihood of burnout and improve general well-being. Policymakers, governments, school boards and administrators should prioritize the implementation of school-based awareness and intervention programs.

Medical studies in times of a pandemic - concepts of digital teaching for Orthopaedics and Trauma at german universities.

BACKGROUND: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on-site classroom teaching became limited at most German medical universities. This caused a sudden demand for digital teaching concepts. How the transfer from classroom to digital teaching or digitally assisted teaching was conducted was decided by each university and/or department individually. As a surgical discipline, Orthopaedics and Trauma have a particular focus on hands-on teaching as well as direct contact to patients. Therefore, specific challenges in designing digital teaching concepts were expected to arise. Aim of this study was to evaluate medical teaching at German universities one year into the pandemic as well as to identify potentials and pitfalls in order to develop possible optimization approaches. METHODS: A questionnaire with 17 items was designed and sent to the professors in charge of organising the teaching in Orthopaedics and Trauma at each medical university. A differentiation between Orthopaedics and Trauma was not made to allow a general overview. We collected the answers and conducted a qualitative analysis. RESULTS: We received 24 replies. Each university reported a substantial reduction of their classroom teaching and efforts to transfer their teaching to digital formats. Three sites were able to switch to digital teaching concepts completely, whereas others tried to enable classroom and bedside teaching at least for students of higher edcuational levels. The online platforms used varied depending on the university as well as the format it was supposed to support. CONCLUSION: One year into the pandemic significant differences concerning the proportions of classroom and digital teaching for Orthopaedics and Trauma can be observed. Simultaneously huge differences in concepts used to create digital teaching are present. Since a complete suspense of classroom teaching was never mandatory, several universities developed hygiene concepts to enable hands-on and bedside teaching. Despite these differences, some similarities were observed: the lack of time and personnel to generate adequate teaching material was reported as the leading challenge by all participants of this study.

Unraveling EFL Teacher Buoyancy in Online Teaching: An Ecological Perspective.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching became a significant method at different levels of education across the globe. The transition from traditional offline to online educational environments brought new challenges for language teachers. Buoyancy plays a crucial role for teachers to bounce back from challenging situations. However, there is a scarcity of empirical research on language teacher buoyancy in online contexts from an ecological perspective which is conducive to unfolding the complex and dynamic nature of buoyancy. To fill this gap, the current study utilized a qualitative research method to investigate the factors influencing English teacher buoyancy in online teaching and how they shape and exercise buoyancy in their negotiation with different ecological systems in online teaching guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. The findings revealed that teachers experienced multiple challenges from different ecological systems, such as ineffective classroom interaction, work-life imbalance, heavy workload, and higher school requirements. Additionally, teacher buoyancy was shaped by the dynamic interaction between teachers and ecological systems and was not only viewed as the individual's ability but as a socio-ecological product. Based on the above findings, the paper provides some implications for developing and researching language teacher buoyancy in the future.

Online education and its effect on teachers during COVID-19-A case study from India.

BACKGROUND: COVID pandemic resulted in an initially temporary and then long term closure of educational institutions, creating a need for adapting to online and remote learning. The transition to online education platforms presented unprecedented challenges for the teachers. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of the transition to online education on teachers' wellbeing in India. METHODS: The research was conducted on 1812 teachers working in schools, colleges, and coaching institutions from six different Indian states. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected via online survey and telephone interviews. RESULTS: The results show that COVID pandemic exacerbated the existing widespread inequality in access to internet connectivity, smart devices, and teacher training required for an effective transition to an online mode of education. Teachers nonetheless adapted quickly to online teaching with the help of institutional training as well as self-learning tools. However, respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of online teaching and assessment methods, and exhibited a strong desire to return to traditional modes of learning. 82% respondents reported physical issues like neck pain, back pain, headache, and eyestrain. Additionally, 92% respondents faced mental issues like stress, anxiety, and loneliness due to online teaching. CONCLUSION: As the effectiveness of online learning perforce taps on the existing infrastructure, not only has it widened the learning gap between the rich and the poor, it has also compromised the quality of education being imparted in general. Teachers faced increased physical and mental health issues due to long working hours and uncertainty associated with COVID lockdowns. There is a need to develop a sound strategy to address the gaps in access to digital learning and teachers' training to improve both the quality of education and the mental health of teachers.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Teachers and Its Possible Risk Factors: A Systematic Review.

(1) Objective: The objective was to analyze the development of psychiatric pathologies/burnout syndrome and their possible risk factors in teachers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: A qualitative systematic review was carried out, according to the PRISMA protocol, in the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using a combination of the following descriptors [MeSH]: "mental health", "mental disorders'', "covid-19" and "school teachers''. Articles selected were written in English, Portuguese and Spanish, published between November 2019 and December 2022. (3) Results: The most common psychiatric pathologies were generalized anxiety disorders and depression. Burnout syndrome was also quite prevalent. Of the 776 articles identified, 42 were selected after applying the eligibility criteria. Although there is variability among the analyzed studies, the risk factors most correlated with increased morbidity in teachers were: (i) being female; (ii) age below the fifth decade of life; (iii) pre-existence of chronic or psychiatric illnesses before the pandemic; (iv) difficulty in adapting to the distance education model; (v) family/work conflicts; (vi) negative symptoms caused by the pandemic. (4) Conclusions: Therefore, the COVID-19 impact on mental health appears to be more common in female teachers in their fifth decade of life and with pre-existing psychiatric comorbidities. However, prospective studies are needed to better map this situation.

Teaching lessons learnt by civil-engineering teachers from the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Burgos, Spain.

The COVID-19 lockdown in Spain caused abrupt changes for students following the Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Burgos when face-to-face classes switched to online teaching. The recovery of face-to-face teaching after lockdown meant that classes were taught with obligatory social distancing and the use of masks. Teachers were therefore unable to interact with students closely, to perceive their facial expressions during class, or to conduct group work. The changes to civil-engineering teaching linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lessons that civil-engineering teachers learnt from the new teaching scenarios are studied in this paper. The reflections of teachers throughout all three stages of the pandemic (pre-pandemic and lockdown, during lockdown, and post-lockdown), and the qualitative and mixed analysis of their responses to a survey of open-ended questions contributed to the identification of six major lessons: (1) asking questions and using real-time quiz tools enliven classes and help to determine which concepts to emphasize for proper student understanding; (2) autonomous student learning can be promoted through the provision of supplementary documentation and the digitalization of solutions to classroom exercises; (3) virtual site visits and real visual examples interspersed with explanations bring concepts closer to their real applications; (4) the delivery of projects in the form of audio-recorded presentations enable their distribution, so that other students can also learn from them as well as the students who created them; (5) online videoconferences, adapted to the concepts that are addressed, facilitate fast and flexible communication with students; and (6) online continuous-assessment exams can promote better student learning patterns and final-exam preparation. Nevertheless, these six lessons were drawn from the experience of teachers at a small Spanish university where the period of solely online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic lasted only four months. Thus, it would be interesting to analyze the experience of civil-engineering teachers at larger universities and universities that had longer periods of solely online teaching. A study of the level of implementation of the six aspects when the pandemic is declared over might also be worthwhile.

Digital Teacher Competence Frameworks Evolution and Their Use in Ibero-America up to the Year the COVID-19 Pandemic Began: A Systematic Review.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way education was conducted, not only at the time when the face-to-face model was replaced by virtuality but also in the period of return to normality because the digital skills of teachers are not the same as before. Digital competency frameworks allow for assessment and comparisons between individuals and over time, so they can be used to understand the transformation that may have occurred in teachers' digital competencies following the pandemic. This systematic literature review analyzes the competency frameworks that have been used in Ibero-America up to the year 2022, with the purpose of defining a concept foundation as an input on which to build a tool to assess digital competencies. The review was done following the pathway proposed by the PRISMA methodology between 2018 and 2022. Results show that there is no consensus or unification of the frameworks, and that there are five purposes in the research being conducted on digital competencies with publications concentrated on two of them. Interest on digital competence frameworks increased substantially in 2020.

Distance Learning in Pandemic Age: Lessons from a (No Longer) Emergency.

For the first time in the history of the global school system, the adoption of distance education modalities became necessary in response to the measures and restrictions implemented to stem the global pandemic generated by COVID-19. Online learning is not a new topic in education; it refers to studying for a certificate using online platforms that offer online courses rather than visiting lectures. Distance learning is a type of training that involves online learning under the supervision of a classroom teacher, but it can still be a little-known modality for both teachers and students. Preparing students for interactions and emotion management is essential in any teaching mode to maximize the learning and participation of the entire class group. This issue becomes even more critical in distance learning because it lacks those aspects of immediacy and concreteness typical of face-to-face interaction. The present article attempts to review the impact of distance learning versus traditional education brought about by the forced experience of distance learning due to the pandemic. In summary, this research has provided some initial findings about distant learning research during the pandemic age. To have a successful learning experience, students must be aware of their responsibilities and master their areas of autonomy, emotions, and feelings. Teaching at a distance is a challenge. As a general rule, learning activities that are successful in a traditional classroom may be adapted to the distance learning setting, but this will take more than a few minor tweaks to the slides or handouts. In order to engage pupils and maintain their attention and motivation levels, these techniques will probably call for more imaginative and inventive ways.

Exploration of college teachers' psychological adaptation to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic using potential profile analysis.

The present study used a person-centered approach to examine college teachers' psychological adaptation to online teaching and its relationship with demographic variables. A total of 2104 college teachers were surveyed using the Psychological Adaption to Online Teaching Scale between March 25 and March 31, 2020. Data were analyzed using latent profile analysis, chi-square test, and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Based on their psychological adaptation during online teaching immediately after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, college teachers were divided into three latent profiles: common, maladaptive, and positive. Among these, the common type accounted for the largest proportion (56.1%), while the maladaptive type accounted for the smallest (10.9%). There were significant differences in the distribution of psychological adaptation latent types in college teachers with different educational backgrounds and professional titles. A better educational background and higher professional title is closely related with college teachers' psychological adaptation to online teaching.

The Relationship between Physical Activity, Sleep Quality, and Stress: A Study of Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted chaotic changes in the daily lives of K-12 teachers, resulting in increased stress and other mental health problems. Limited evidence regarding the relationship between physical activity, sleep, and perceived stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic exists. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity, sleep quality, and perceived psychological stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey measuring physical activity, sleep quality, and perceived psychological stress was distributed across 47 US states between September and October of 2020. Data provided by 635 teachers (mean age: 42 ± 18 years, 74.6% female) were included in the present analysis. Results suggested a negative association between physical activity and perceived psychological stress. Mediation analyses indicated that teachers engaging in high levels of physical activity were more likely to have good quality sleep and, in turn, were less likely to report high levels of perceived stress. Physical activity and sleep-related interventions could help curtail the rising levels of psychological distress amongst K-12 teachers during stressful times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers, especially those that self-report as female and/or young, report high levels of stress. These high levels of stress are a serious challenge for school districts in terms of attracting and retaining qualified teachers in K-12 classrooms.

Well-Being and Mental Health in Teachers: The Life Impact of COVID-19.

The impact of the pandemic on teachers' mental health has also been an important issue. The aim of the study was to analyze the vital impact of COVID-19, spirituality, and the use of social-emotional strategies on teacher well-being, mediated by mental health. The sample was non-random, inviting all teachers in a city North of Chile to participate in the study. The sample consisted of 624 teachers. A total of 74.4% were women and 25.6% were men. The mean age was 44.1 and the standard deviation was 11.9. A total of 56.4% belonged to public schools and 43.6% belonged to subsidized schools. Structural equations were used to analyze the data, finding a mental health mediating effect between the death of a close person, affected areas and family history with life satisfaction. Spirituality and the use of socio-emotional strategies self-applied by the teachers had no direct relationship with their mental health, so their mediating effect in relation to life satisfaction was discarded. Teachers who used social-emotional strategies, as well as those who reported higher levels of spirituality, obtained greater satisfaction with life, both general and specifically. Women had higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress symptomatology, but also higher levels of life satisfaction. The implications are discussed.

How Work Stress Impacts Emotional Outcomes of Chinese College Teachers: The Moderated Mediating Effect of Stress Mindset and Resilience.

Based on the job demands-resources model and conservation of resource theory, this study investigated 456 Chinese college teachers' work stress, stress mindset, resilience, emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect. The results of mediation analysis showed that resilience played a partial mediation role between work stress and emotional outcomes (emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect). Moreover, the results of a moderated mediation analysis showed that stress mindset moderated the relationship between work stress and resilience, and moderated the mediating effect of resilience between work stress and emotional outcomes (emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect). Specifically, work stress had a significant negative predictive effect on resilience when stress mindset is low (ß = -0.54, p < 0.001); work stress could also negatively predict resilience when the stress mindset is high (ß = -0.47, p < 0.001), but its effect decreased, and stress mindset negatively moderated the path between work stress and resilience. Finally, we discussed theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations, and future directions.

A sense of belonging: The role of higher education in retaining quality STEM teachers.

There is an alarming shortage of qualified STEM teachers in American PK-12 schools. The COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate this crisis and consequently affect who participates in future STEM innovation. At three points during the pandemic, we surveyed early career teachers who were supported by the National Science Foundation as they began teaching in high-needs school districts. Teachers who felt connected to their professional and academic communities reported intentions to remain in the profession, while those who felt isolated reported intentions of leaving. It is critical for STEM academics to maintain professional relationships with graduates who pursue STEM teaching professions after graduation.

Rare Diseases in the Educational Field: Knowledge and Perceptions of Spanish Teachers.

BACKGROUND: Education plays a fundamental role in everyone's wellbeing. That means it is essential to provide quality inclusive activities to ensure equity and equality of opportunity in order to shape a cohesive, democratic, healthy society. METHODS: In this study we focus on how inclusive educational practice addresses students with rare diseases, looking at teachers' knowledge and opinions in this regard. A questionnaire was administered to 574 teachers who taught in various stages of non-university education to determine their knowledge and opinions about different dimensions: conceptualization, legislation, intervention, and diagnosis. RESULTS: The results suggested various ideas for improvement in pursuit of positive, real inclusion, such as the need to improve teachers' knowledge and understanding of these students' characteristics and potential, with widespread specific training being urgently needed. CONCLUSIONS: in summary, students' rights to education without discrimination is a basic premise of an educational system, leading to the need for a complete educational response that allows each student to develop as a person.

The Impact of Teacher Competence in Online Teaching on Perceived Online Learning Outcomes during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Moderated-Mediation Model of Teacher Resilience and Age.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to conduct online classes because of the breakdown of school learning. Teacher competence has a great impact on the students' learning outcomes in online learning. Teacher resilience is also important to help teachers survive and achieve a high level of well-being in emergency situations. Previous studies have explored the protective and risk factors of teacher resilience, among which teacher competence in various aspects is included. In addition, teachers' age differences in competence and resilience have been the focus of past studies. However, few studies have investigated the impact of teacher competence on students' online learning outcomes, the mediating role of teacher resilience, and the moderating effect of age when teachers participate in emergent online teaching. To address the above gap, this study explored teachers' perceptions of students' online learning outcomes and how teacher competence in online teaching and resilience can predict these outcomes. The data of 159,203 participants were collected and subjected to correlation analyses and a moderated-mediation effect test. The results indicated that (1) teacher competence in online teaching was positively related to perceived online learning outcomes; (2) teacher resilience was positively related to the teachers' perceived online learning outcomes; (3) teacher resilience played a partial mediating role between teacher competence in online teaching and perceived online learning outcomes; and (4) teachers' age moderated the direct and indirect relation between teacher competence in online teaching and perceived online learning outcomes. The findings imply that teachers should strengthen their own teaching competence and their resilience before conducting online teaching. In addition, this study proposes intervention strategies to enhance teachers' resilience and well-being through teacher competence cultivation and provides suggestions for different age levels of teachers to develop and train their online teaching competence and resilience in the future.

What makes online teaching spatial? Examining the connections between K-12 teachers' spatial skills, affect, and their use of spatial pedagogy during remote instruction.

Spatial skills are critical for student success in K-12 STEM education. Teachers' spatial skills and feelings about completing spatial tasks influence students' spatial and STEM learning at both the primary and secondary levels. However, whether spatial skills and spatial anxiety differ or not between these two teacher levels is unknown. Additionally, the relations between teachers' spatial skills, spatial anxiety, and their use of spatial pedagogical practices in remote learning settings is unknown. Here, we investigated if spatial skills and spatial anxiety differ between teachers working at primary versus secondary levels, and examined the relations between their spatial skills and spatial anxiety while accounting for additional influential factors-general reasoning ability and general anxiety. Lastly, we investigated how teachers' spatial skills in conjunction with their spatial anxiety relate to their use of spatial teaching practices for online instruction. Sixty-two K-12 teachers completed measures of spatial skills, spatial anxiety, general anxiety, general reasoning, and a teaching activities questionnaire. Results indicate that spatial skills and spatial anxiety may not vary between teachers working at primary versus secondary levels, but that higher spatial skills in teachers are associated with lower spatial anxiety for mental manipulation tasks. Additionally, teachers with weaker spatial skills and lower mental manipulation anxiety reported more frequently using spatial teaching practices when teaching remotely due to COVID-19. These findings may have broad implications for teacher professional development with regards to developing students' spatial skills during remote learning.

Medical teachers' experience of emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-institutional study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent social distancing measures caused unprecedented disruption for medical and healthcare education. This study examined medical teachers' experience with emergency remote teaching during the pandemic and their acceptance of online teaching after the pandemic. METHODS: In this sequential mixed methods study, online surveys were disseminated to teachers (n = 139) at two Asia-Pacific medical schools to evaluate their experience with emergency remote teaching during the pandemic. Subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers from both institutions (n = 13). Each interviewee was classified into an adopter category based on Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically, and the descriptive themes were mapped to broader themes partly based on the Technology Acceptance Model and these included: (i) perceived usefulness of online teaching, (ii) perceived ease of delivering online teaching, (iii) experience with institutional support and (iv) acceptance of online teaching after the pandemic. RESULTS: Our participants described accounts of successes with their emergency remote teaching and difficulties they experienced. In general, most participants found it difficult to deliver clinical skills teaching remotely and manage large groups of students in synchronous online classes. With regards to institutional support, teachers with lower technological literacy required just-in-time technical support, while teachers who were innovative in their online teaching practices found that IT support alone could not fully address their needs. It was also found that teachers' acceptance of online teaching after the pandemic was influenced by their belief about the usefulness of online teaching. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that our participants managed to adapt to emergency remote teaching during this pandemic, and it also identified a myriad of drivers and blockers to online teaching adoption for medical teachers. It highlights the need for institutes to better support their teaching staff with diverse needs in their online teaching.

Investigating Perceptions of Teachers and School Nurses on Child and Adolescent Oral Health in Los Angeles County.

This study reports the results of focus groups with school nurses and teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools to explore their perceptions of child and adolescent oral health. Participants included 14 school nurses and 15 teachers (83% female; 31% Hispanic; 21% White; 21% Asian; 14% African American; and 13% Others). Respondents were recruited from Los Angeles County schools and scheduled by school level for six one-hour focus groups using Zoom. Audio recordings were transcribed, reviewed, and saved with anonymization of speaker identities. NVivo software (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia) was used to facilitate content analysis and identify key themes. The nurses' rate of "Oral Health Education" comments statistically exceeded that of teachers, while teachers had higher rates for "Parental Involvement" and "Mutual Perception" comments. "Need for Care" was perceived to be more prevalent in immigrants to the United States based on student behaviors and complaints. "Access to Care" was seen as primarily the nurses' responsibilities. Strong relationships between community clinics and schools were viewed by some as integral to students achieving good oral health. The results suggest dimensions and questions important to item development for oral health surveys of children and parents to address screening, management, program assessment, and policy planning.