Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Resilience Intervention to Enhance Coping Strategies and Protective Factors and Decrease Symptomatology

Research has shown that 40% to 60% of teachers leave the classroom in their first three years on the job. It is well established that teaching can be a stressful occupation, but simply listing stressors (work overload, scarcity of resources, student interaction) does not explain why some teachers stay in the profession and others leave. Answers are more likely to be found in examining whether teachers perceive the stressors in their daily lives as challenges or threats; whether they know how to cope with these stressors; and whether they perceive their stress level to be negatively affecting their well-being. Building teachers resilience (their ability to bounce back and fully recover from stressful situations) might decrease attrition and increase job satisfaction. Teachers early in their careers may benefit most from resilience training as they are on the greatest learning curve, and therefore likely to experience the most significant amount of stress.

The primary goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of an intervention in enhancing resilience among pre-service teachers (N=180).  The secondary goals are to: 1) test the effectiveness of the intervention in enhancing additional psychosocial protective resources (i.e., adaptive behavioral, emotional, and cognitive coping responses, self-esteem, social support, and self-leadership); and 2) examine the effects of changes in these psychosocial protective resources on health (i.e., general stress, symptoms of illness, depression, physical functioning, mental functioning) outcomes.

 

A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others.
~Hans Selye