103 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Elementary School Teachers: A Qualitative study Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Interviewed Participants After Mindfulnessbased Stress Reduction: Focus groups (n=20) and Last session (n=26) Characteristics Focus groups Last session Age in years, M (range) 39.3 (23-59) 39.6 (21-62) Gender, male n (%) 3 (15%) 4 (15%) Gender, female n (%) 17 (85%) 22 (85.%) Type of education teaching n (%) Primary education 19 (95%) 25 (96%) Special needs primary education 1 (5%) 1 (4%) Year group teaching, n (%) Group 1-4 12 (60%) 12 (46%) Group 5-8 8 (40%) 14 (54%) Psychological complaints at the start of the program n (%) No 19 (95%) 24 (92%) Yes 1 (5%) 2 (8%) School weight score (range 20-40) compared to regional average n (%) < 32,2 13 (65%) 16 (62%) ≥ 32,2 7 (35%) 10 (38%) Average number of sessions participated (range) 7.4 (6-8) 7.6 (6-8) 1 The school weight score ranges from 20 to 40 and is related to the complexity of the pupil population and school results. The higher the score, the more complex the pupil population and the lower the expected learning results for this school (Statistics Netherlands [CBS], 2019). Intervention The intervention was the original MBSR-program developed by Kabat-Zinn (Full catastrophe living, 2013) which consists of eight weekly group sessions (6 - 9 participants) of 120 minutes each. MBSR consists of three primary components: (1) formal and informal meditation exercises, such as sitting meditation and yoga; (2) dialogue; and (3) psychoeducation about stress and stress responses. Participants received a reader with information about each weeks’ session and they were asked to practice daily for at least 35 minutes. In the original program, an additional day of 6 hours silent practice takes place between session six and seven. Due to COVID-19, this additional session could unfortunately not take place. The mindfulness teacher (JL) met the advance criteria of the Association of Mindfulness-Based Teachers in the Netherlands and Flanders and the internationally agreed good practice guidelines of the United Kingdom (UK) Network for Mindfulness-Based Teachers (Crane et al., 2013) and had supervision by a licensed MBSR supervisor once or twice during each MBSR program. A licenced psychologist was available during and after the program when the trainer noted that a participant might be 6
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