Teacher Self-Efficacy and Mental Health-Their Intricate Relation to Professional Resources and Attitudes in an Established Manual-Based Psychological Group Program.

Introduction: Teaching is considered a mentally challenging occupation. Teacher self-efficacy is a personal resource which buffers the experience of stress and may be important in maintaining mental health. The preventive intervention "Manual-Based Psychological Group Program for Teachers" (MBPGPT) was applied and evaluated state-wide to improve the mental health of teachers. This study aims to investigate the intricate relation between teacher self-efficacy and mental health and their changes in the course of the intervention. Method: Using a single-group pre-/post-design, the relation between teacher self-efficacy and mental health was investigated in 742 teachers. Pre- and post-changes in teacher self-efficacy and their interaction with mental health were examined in a subsample of 171 teachers, who met the conservative inclusion criteria. In ancillary analyses, correlations with underlying changes in work-related behavior and experience patterns were analyzed to better understand the intricate link between teacher self-efficacy and mental health. Results: Teacher self-efficacy showed a significant, moderate correlation with mental health. Self-efficacy was moderately higher after the intervention than before the intervention, but independent of changes in mental health. Teacher self-efficacy was related to work-related psychological resistance and positive emotions. An increase in teacher self-efficacy was accompanied by an improvement in life satisfaction and distancing ability. A decrease in teacher self-efficacy went hand in hand with reduced experience of social support. Discussion: This study confirmed teacher self-efficacy as an important, reliable resource and its correlation with psychological resistance. The absence of a control group limits what causal conclusions can be drawn from the study. Nevertheless, self-efficacy seems to be a worthwhile goal of preventive interventions for teachers and should be promoted due to its wide-ranging implications. Suggestions for further studies and interventions are made.

Factors influencing mental health improvements in school teachers.

OBJECTIVE: To identify changes in work-related psychological attitudes that influence mental health improvement in school teachers after participation in a psychological group program. METHODS: In an exploratory study with N = 544 matched cases we combined a screening instrument for general mental health (GHQ) with measures of work-related behavioral and experiential patterns (AVEM). We compared four GHQ change types pre and post intervention with regard to their performance on eleven sub-scales that figure as professional resources. Factors that showed significant relative changes and thus (likely) contributed to improved health status were identified by means of pairwise t-tests and corresponding effect sizes. RESULTS: Decreases in willingness to work to exhaustion (VB), in striving for perfection (PS), and in the tendency for resignation in the face of failure (RT), as well as an increase of distancing ability (DF) and of inner calm and balance (IR) appear to be the main factors influencing health improvement in the intervention. Simultaneously, an increase of satisfaction with life (LZ) is observed. CONCLUSIONS: The balanced use of professional resources is a critical ingredient in maintaining teachers' health. Adjusting the balance between commitment and resistance through factors found in this analysis help teachers in maintaining and strengthening resilience. The coaching program addresses these factors by focusing on personal attitudes and good interpersonal relationships in the school environment.

EEG correlates of multimodal ganzfeld induced hallucinatory imagery.

Multimodal ganzfeld (MMGF) frequently induces dreamlike, pseudo-hallucinatory imagery. The aim of the study was to explore EEG correlates of MMGF-induced imagery. In a screening phase, seven 'high-responders' were selected by frequency and quality of their reported hallucinatory experience in MMGF. Each of these subjects then participated in three MMGF sessions (45 min) with simultaneous 19 channel EEG recordings and indicated occurrences of imagery by pressing a button. Relative spectral power changes during percept formation (30 s preceding subjects' reports) with respect to intra-individual baselines (no-imagery EEG) were analysed. At the beginning of the 30-s 'image formation' period alpha was slightly reduced than in the 'no-imagery' periods. This was followed by increased power in the higher alpha frequency band (10-12 Hz) which then declined in a monotonic fashion. This decline in higher alpha power was accompanied by increased power in the beta frequency bands. Throughout the image formation period there was a steady decline in power of low frequency alpha (8-10 Hz). Correlations between descriptors of subjective experience and EEG power changes were evaluated in terms of their global average magnitude and variability in time. Results indicate that the acceleration of alpha activity is a nonspecific effect of MMGF. In contrast, the tri-phasic profile of faster alpha activity seems to be a specific correlate of the retrieval and transformation of memory content in ganzfeld imagery.