61 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for elementary school teachers: a randomized controlled trial MBSR program but did not participate in the study. Group sizes ranged from a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 15 participants. Participants were not paid for providing data and completing the intervention. Costs for participating in the course were covered by their school boards. Although the protocol paper for this study (Lensen et al, 2021) referred to data collection for the outcome measure ‘teacher absenteeism’, due to the COVID-19 pandemic we had to drop this outcome measure. The regular absence of teachers for a variety of COVID19 related reasons would have biased this outcome measure. In contrast to our original plans, we opted not to incorporate pupil perspectives on pupil-teacher relationships and classroom climate quality due to insufficient parental consent. Despite our concerted efforts, response from parents was limited, especially in schools with a higher school weight. Intervention The intervention consisted of the original MBSR-program developed by Kabat-Zinn (2013) containing 8 weekly group sessions (6 - 15 participants) with a duration of 120 minutes each. The training 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. A folder was provided with information about each weeks’ session and participants were asked to practice daily for at least 35 minutes. The study did not assess the amount of practice outside the sessions. Initially, MBSR was primarily offered in a face-to-face format. However, due to COVID-19, for school year 2020-2021 the last four sessions had to be conducted online. In the 6th week, an additional day of silent practice was included. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this additional session could not take place face-to-face and participants were encouraged to practice a day in silence at home using a protocol which was provided by the trainer. For the face to face training in school years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, additional measures were implemented, including increased spacing between participants and extra ventilation. The mindfulness teacher (JL) met the advanced criteria of the internationally agreed good practice guidelines of the UK Network and the Association of MindfulnessBased Teachers in the Netherlands and Flanders (Crane et al., 2013). In addition, the trainer had supervision by a licensed MBSR supervisor once or twice during each MBSR program. As planned the number of sessions attended by each participant was noted and several sessions were recorded. A licensed psychologist was available during and after the program when the trainer or participants noted that they might be in need of additional mental support. 4
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