74 Chapter 4 MBSR for teachers in high school weight (high-risk) schools and for those who have had or currently have symptoms of psychological problems. Additionally, a study by Jennings et al. (2011) suggested that an MBI might exert a larger effect on teachers who worked in schools with more complex pupil populations, which is related to school weight. It is also inconsistent with the study of Roeser et al. (2022) indicating that newer teachers (<5 years) showed better personal and classroom outcomes at follow-up than more experienced teachers. The absence of moderation effects of past or present psychological problems, school weight, years of experience and age, may suggest that the benefits of the MBSR training were consistent across different teachers, schools and intervention characteristics, indicating its broad applicability. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to note that the moderation analyses were exploratory in nature, and it’s plausible that the power was insufficient to detect moderating effects. Therefore, firm conclusions regarding this aspect cannot be drawn. COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic, with its profound effects on teachers and heightened stress levels, introduced numerous challenges during this period. Recognizing the potential confounding impact of COVID-19 on our study results, we incorporated it as an additional variable in the sensitivity analyses. Participation before or during COVID-19 was not associated with any of the outcomes, nor were results altered after including COVID19 as potential confounder. It may be the case that MBSR contributed significantly to the improvement of teachers’ resilience, thereby buffering the possibly adverse effects of COVID-19 on their stress (Cho et al., 2021). For instance, previous research has demonstrated that teachers’ self-efficacy, a protective factor for resilience, played a crucial role in facilitating successful online teaching (König et al., 2020). Therefore, it is plausible that MBSR provided additional support to teachers in managing their stress during COVID-19. Furthermore, Flemish qualitative research has revealed that teachers employed various strategies, including mindfulness, to cope with the increased perceived stress caused by COVID-19 (Desmet, 2021). Earlier investigations indicated that elementary school teachers reported lower levels of COVID-19 stress in comparison to their secondary school counterparts (Klapproth et al., 2020). It’s plausible that a similar trend occurred in our study, and the impact of COVID-19 was less pronounced than anticipated. Since we did not directly inquire about the specific impact of COVID-19 on teachers’ perceived stress and teaching, caution is warranted in drawing definitive conclusions from the findings in our current study. Strengths, limitations and future research This study employed a bottom-up approach. Teachers seeking relief from ongoing stress were facilitated to participate in an MBSR training at a regional University of Applied Sciences. Positive experiences led to a pilot study, culminating in this RCT. Teachers
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