82 Chapter 5 component skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience and nonreactivity to inner experience. Results of previous studies suggest that mindfulness skills may lead to a reduction in stress among teachers, enhancement of their well-being and improve classroom climate (Hwang et al., 2017; Jennings et al., 2013; Lomas et al., 2017). The second factor that was investigated as potential mediator of the MBSR program was self-compassion. Self-compassion involves being kind, non-judgmental, and a caring approach towards oneself when suffering or challenges occurs (Neff, 2003). Studies that explored the mechanisms of change of a mindfulness training found that mindfulness and self-compassion mediated reductions in stress among teachers (Roeser et al., 2013; Taylor et al., 2016). Evidence also suggest that self-compassion has been positively linked to well-being and decreased negative outcomes like anxiety, depression, and stress (Eriksson et al., 2018; Matos et al., 2024). Given the documented benefits of selfcompassion on teachers’ well-being, it stands to reason that such positive effects would extend to fostering a more conducive and supportive classroom environment. Third, it was expected that emotion regulation worked as a mediator for MBSR programs (Hölzel et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2016). Emotion regulation can be defined as “the processes by which individuals influence which emotion they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions” (Gross, 1998). Studies have found that teachers’ stress decreases when they are able to better regulate their emotions (Montgomery & Rupp, 2005; Skinner & Beers, 2016; Taylor et al., 2016). It was expected that emotion regulation would also lead to better well-being since emotion management was identified as mediator in a mindfulness training for teachers (Tsang et al., 2021). Further, it was hypothesized that emotion regulation could lead to a better classroom climate quality since some studies found that teachers who can regulate their own emotions are more able to deal with conflicts or other difficult situations in the class (Valente et al., 2022; Alvarez et al., 2022). Finally, teacher self-efficacy could mediate the effectiveness of an MBSR program. Teacher self-efficacy indicates teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about their capacity to improve pupils’ learning outcomes (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Some studies showed a negative correlation between teacher self-efficacy and stress (Betoret, 2006; Klassen & Chiu, 2010). Therefore, it is expected that increased teacher self-efficacy and greater confidence in their own attitudes will lead to reduced perceived stress and higher levels of well-being. Furthermore, a previous study showed that mindfulness programs can improve self-efficacy among teachers and short-term benefits for classroom climate quality (de Carvalho et al., 2021). To explore what makes MBSR programs effective among Dutch elementary school teachers, this study examined whether mindfulness skills, self-compassion, emotion
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