MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS

INFLUENCING OR INNEFECTIVE? THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES ON K-12 TEACHER PERCEIVED STRESS

A Doctoral Capstone Project
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies and Research
Department of Education

In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Education

Jessica Lindsay
Pennsylvania Western University
August 2023

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS

Copyright by
Jessica Lindsay
All Rights Reserved
August 2023

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my capstone committee chair, Dr. Todd Keruskin, for
helping me with my organization and providing me with ongoing feedback throughout
the process. You have provided guidance and support while providing me with the
encouragement that was needed to push through to the end.
In life there is often change and I was fortunate enough that one change led to the
introduction of my capstone external committee member, Dr. Erich May. Sometimes
things happen in life for a reason. Thank you for all of the guidance you have provided
me throughout the years. You push me out of my comfort zone and provided feedback to
help me grow. I appreciate all of the mentorship and guidance you have provided
throughout this process. Thank you for proofreading and editing this work and our
continuing conversations. Your insights and encouragement are deeply appreciated and
have been instrumental to my success.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Purchase Line School District
administration and Board of Directors, who allowed me to complete this study in the
district and provided me with the support needed to pursue a subject that could provide
data that could be used to enhance the district.
To all the teachers in the Purchase Line School District who volunteered to
participate in this study. They took time to answer surveys and participate in mindfulness
activities. Thank you for being open and honest with all of your feedback. The amount
of time and effort that you put into ensuring that the students have a positive learning
experience is inspiring.

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During this journey there was a lot of time that was needed. Thank you to all of
my loved loves, thank you for your patience and giving me the time needed in order to
work through this process. Your love and support throughout these years have helped
encouraged me to do my best and I could not ask to be part of a more caring and loving
family. Your love and smiles helped me get through the darkest days and roughest
turbulence while helping me see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This journey would have never begun if my loved ones had not pushed me to
further my education and pursue this next milestone. Thank you for always being there
and pushing me to continue on this path. I appreciate you giving me the time and space
needed throughout this process and for never letting me give up. You provided me with
the encouragement I needed when I began to feel overwhelmed. Your love, support, and
patience are things that I cherish, thank you for being by my side.

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iv
List of Tables .......................................................................................................... viviii
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. ix
Abstract ......................................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................. 1
Background ............................................................................................................. 1
Capstone Focus ....................................................................................................... 3
Research Questions ................................................................................................. 4
Expected Outcomes ................................................................................................ 5
Fiscal Implications .................................................................................................. 5
Summary ................................................................................................................. 6
CHAPTER II ................................................................................................................. 7
Review of Literature ............................................................................................... 7
Mindfulness............................................................................................................. 8
Examples ............................................................................................................ 9
Non-Examples .................................................................................................... 9
History of Mindfulness ..................................................................................... 10
Hinduism .................................................................................................... 11
Buddhism.................................................................................................... 11
Mindfulness and Yoga................................................................................ 12
Mindfulness and Meditation ....................................................................... 13
Mindfulness Practices....................................................................................... 14
Breathing .................................................................................................... 15
Awareness of the Body/Mindful Movement .............................................. 16
Guided Imagery .......................................................................................... 16
Sensory Experiences / Mindful Communication........................................ 17
Mindfulness Meditation ............................................................................. 17
Mindfulness in Education ................................................................................. 18
Practices in Education ................................................................................ 19
State of Education Today ...................................................................................... 19
Teachers leaving the profession/retiring early ................................................. 22
Work Load .................................................................................................. 23
Accountability ............................................................................................ 24
Lack of Support .......................................................................................... 25
Student Behavior ........................................................................................ 25
Wages and Benefits .................................................................................... 26
Teacher Retention............................................................................................. 27
Teacher Training ........................................................................................ 28
Environment and Relationships.................................................................. 29
Administration ............................................................................................ 30
Impact ............................................................................................................... 30
Stress ..................................................................................................................... 31
Definition of Stress ........................................................................................... 31
Psychological Stress ................................................................................... 31

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Physiological Stress .................................................................................... 32
Stressors .......................................................................................................... 32
Social Media ............................................................................................... 34
Stressors in Education ................................................................................ 34
Technology ................................................................................................. 35
Environment ............................................................................................... 36
Support ............................................................................................................. 37
Strategies to Cope with Stress .................................................................... 38
Chill Rooms ................................................................................................ 40
Impact of Stress ................................................................................................ 40
Physical Health ........................................................................................... 41
Mental Health ............................................................................................. 42
Summary ............................................................................................................... 42
Chapter III ................................................................................................................... 44
Methodology ......................................................................................................... 44
Purpose .................................................................................................................. 47
Settings and Participants ....................................................................................... 47
Intervention and Research Plan ............................................................................ 52
Research Design, Methods and Data Collection................................................... 58
Validity ................................................................................................................. 61
Summary ............................................................................................................... 64
Chapter IV ................................................................................................................... 66
Data Analysis and Results .................................................................................... 66
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 67
Results ................................................................................................................... 68
Discussion ............................................................................................................. 87
Summary ............................................................................................................... 94
Chapter V .................................................................................................................... 95
Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................................... 95
Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 96
Fiscal Implications .............................................................................................. 104
Limitations .......................................................................................................... 105
Recommendations for Future Research .............................................................. 107
Summary ............................................................................................................. 109
References ................................................................................................................. 111
Appendix A-Teacher Consent Form ......................................................................... 125
Appendix B-Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Surevey (Pre) ................... 126
Appendix C- Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Surevey (Post) ................ 128
Appendix D-Daily Mindfulness Survey ................................................................... 131
Appendix E-Daily Mindfulness Activities................................................................ 132
Appendix F-IRB Approval ....................................................................................... 136

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List of Tables
Table 1. Purchase Line School District Demographics

49

Table 2. Teacher Demographics

51

Table 3. Pre and Post Teacher Demographics

69

Table 4. Daily Mindfulness Survey Demographics

70

Table 5. Stressor Averages

71

Table 6. Impact of Mindfulness Activities on Stress

73

Table 7. Daily Mindfulness Activity Stress

74

Table 8. Number of Participants for Each Activity

76

Table 9. Stress Reduction Each Activity

77

Table 10. Demographic Daily Mindfulness Average Activity Stress

79

Table 11. Demographic Impact of Mindfulness Activities on Stress

83

Table 12. Comfort in Implementing in the Classroom

85

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List of Figures
Figure 1. Purchase Line School District Map

48

Figure 2. Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Gender

80

Figure 3. Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Years of Experience

81-82

Figure 4. Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Grades Taught

82

Figure 5. Daily Activity Use in Classroom

84

Figure 6. Perceived Impact on the Classroom

86-87

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Abstract
School leaders are always looking for ways to create welcoming environments for
students and staff. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that
mindfulness activities had on teacher perceived stress. This study also examined the
causes of the teachers’ stress and supports that can be put in place to help reduce teacher
stress. This mixed-methods study used surveys to collect data prior to the study, during
the study, and after the completion of the 24 mindfulness activities conducted over an
eight-week period. Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered using Likert scale,
multiple choice, and an open-ended response. The data was gathered and then analyzed
to determine the impact of mindfulness activities on perceived stress. The pre, post, and
mindfulness activity data was triangulated to determine the relationship between
mindfulness activities and teacher stress. The research questions focused on the causes of
teacher perceived stress and the perceived effect that mindfulness activities had on their
stress. The last two questions examined if demographics made a difference on teacher
perceived stress and the teachers’ perceptions of what impact the mindfulness activities
would have if implemented into their classroom. The overall finding was that the
mindfulness activities did decrease teacher perceived stress and that the largest stressor
for teachers was not having enough time. All teachers in the study believed that the
mindfulness activities would have an impact on students in their classroom and
demographics did not show a significant difference in the decrease of stress of the
participants.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Stress can impact teachers' health in a variety of ways and teachers who are
stressed can create environments that adversely impact others. Teachers in today’s
society are voicing that they feel emotional and physical strain that is making it difficult
to function in their daily lives. The field of education has been shown to have high
stress levels. “A recent Gallup Poll determined that 46 percent of teachers reported high
daily stress ranking teaching as one of the highest in occupational stress” (Gallup, 2014,
as cited in DiCarlo et al., 2019, p. 485). This stress is reported to be felt by teachers more
than ever before and teachers are leaving the profession at a fast pace. “As a result,
occupational stress and its influence on the number of teachers leaving the profession is a
growing global concern” (Brunsting et al., 2014, as cited in Junker et al., 2021, p. 1). In
order to maintain quality educators in the workplace there needs to be supports in place to
help reduce the stress that teachers perceive they are under on a daily basis.
Background
As a district administrator that was previously a teacher and principal, I have
observed many changes over the past twenty years in both states that I have been
employed. In my current position as a district administrator, I have observed the
continuous changes that are demanded of teachers along with all of the additional
mandates that are put onto their plates. This stress is caused by multiple sources.
“Occupational sources of stress include school organization, high job demands, and lack
of support and autonomy” (Greenberg et al., 2016, as cited in DiCarlo et al., 2019, p.
485). The high levels of stress have an impact on the students. “Perceived stress can lead

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to negative classroom environments and poor academic outcomes for students, as well as
negatively affect teacher well-being” (Kidger et al., 2009, as cited in DiCarlo et al., 2019,
p. 485) as well as the teachers physical and mental wellbeing.
In the past few decades, many studies have highlighted that teaching is a stressful
profession, and research carried out in many countries and in Italy have explored
the determinants of teachers’ stress and the effects of stress on their physical and
psychological health. (Bauer et al., 2006, as cited in Zurlo, 2016, p. 28)
The problem of teacher perceived stress is at a critical breaking point at this
time and we need to discover what is causing this stress and how to intervene.
Supports need to be identified to help alleviate some of the perceived stress for staff.
Elevated stress levels are a major problem for teachers around the world as they
are more likely to be affected by occupational stress than individuals in most
other professions. As a result, occupational stress and its influence on the number
of teachers leaving the profession is a growing global concern. (Brunsting et al.,
2014, as cited in Junker et al., 2021, p. 1)
Research on teacher perceived stress can help provide information about the
causes of this stress which can then lead leaders to provide supports that will help
teachers with self-care. These tools will help reduce stress and in turn help retain
teachers in the field of education. Researching the implementation of mindfulness
activities into teachers’ routines will help demonstrate if mindfulness strategies are
effective. The research will determine how effective mindfulness is and if it could be
used to provide a positive workplace climate and culture. There has been mindfulness
research completed that has found benefits for individuals trying to reduce stress. “One

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proposed mechanism by which mindfulness contributes to improvements in physical
health is stress reduction. Mindfulness is associated with lower levels of stress”
(Ballantyne et al., 2021, p. 322) and now we need to further research this impact on
teachers. Research on mindfulness in education has recently become a topic of
conversation because of the pandemic. “Mindfulness ‘in’ education has, however,
become more mainstream, largely because it operates from a more instrumental
perspective. Such mindfulness training is ‘attractive’ as it comes packaged with a range
of self-soothing and concentration techniques” (Brito, 2021, p. 92). Districts are looking
for ways to address student and staff needs. More research is needed on how mindfulness
can impact stress in the workplace for staff. The research can then be used to determine if
mindfulness may benefit students and equip them with the tools needed to address their
physical and mental health.
Capstone Focus
This action research will be done in order to identify what teachers perceive as
being stressful and how the implementation of mindfulness activities impact that
perceived stress in a rural Pennsylvania school. This research will also identify if these
educators would implement the mindfulness activities in their own classrooms. K-12
educators volunteered to participate in a group that utilized mindfulness activities. The
data was used to determine if the activities had an impact on their perceived stress.
“Although relationships between mindfulness and physical health have been examined
further research is needed to clarify the nature of this relationship and to identify which
aspects of mindfulness (a multifaceted con-struct) are most directly associated with
health” (Grossman et al., 2004, as cited in Ballantyne et al., 2021, p. 321). This research

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will provide more data about the impact on teachers perceived stress, which can impact
their health.
Participants in this research study will include K-12 professionals in the Purchase
Line School District. All participants will be volunteers and will be given a consent form
and a survey at the beginning of the study. The survey given at the beginning will gather
demographic information, along with their knowledge of mindfulness and perceived
stressors. The teachers will participate in mindfulness activities three times a week for
eight weeks and after each activity complete a mindfulness survey. The mindfulness
survey will gather information about the effectiveness of the mindfulness activity for the
day along with participation data. After the completion of the eight weeks of
interventions the teachers will complete a post survey on perceived stress and
mindfulness. The data gathered will help determine the effect that mindfulness activities
had on teacher perceived stress.
Research Questions
The data gathered from the teacher surveys given at the beginning and end of the
eight weeks along with the mindfulness activity surveys will answer the following
research questions:
Research Question 1. What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived stress?
Research Question 2. What is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has affected their
stress level?
Research Question 3. Do the demographics of a teacher make a difference in their
perceived stress?

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Research Question 4. What is the teacher’s perception of the impact mindfulness
activities would have on their classroom?
Expected Outcomes
Participants in this research will be participating in mindfulness interventions.
Survey results from before and after will be gathered and compared to determine the
impact of mindfulness on teacher perceived stress. The survey that is completed for each
activity will compare the teachers perceived stress level before and after the activity to
determine the effectiveness of the mindfulness activity and the possibility of
implementation in the classroom. This data will provide information to determine if the
mindfulness activities are beneficial to teachers and if the teachers would be willing to
implement this activity for students.
Fiscal Implications
There are some indirect costs to this study. These include the time of teachers to
participate in the mindfulness activities and complete the surveys, along with the time of
the researcher. The other indirect cost is the cost of the teacher devices they use to
complete the surveys and mindfulness activities. All teachers have a device provided by
the district.
All surveys will be created, distributed, and collected using a Google form. The
district is a Google district, so this is of no cost to teachers or staff to use. The
mindfulness activities will be embedded into the Google Form that is sent for teachers to
submit after completing the activity.
Summary

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This study will examine the impact on teacher perceived stress by implementing
mindfulness activities three times a week for eight weeks. Volunteers will be teachers
from the Purchase Line School District and this study will use a mixed methods
approach. If the data collected demonstrates that the mindfulness activities reduced the
amount of teacher perceived stress, then the district will implement mindfulness
professional development and activities for all staff. If that would be shown to be
effective, then the district would move to implementing mindfulness activities in to the
classrooms. Data gathered will also provide insight on what the teachers perceive as
stressors. This data will be used to make changes to the environment in order to create a
less stressful work environment or if inclusive used to develop a plan of what the next
step for the district will be to create the best environment for student learning to take
place.

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CHAPTER II
Review of Literature
Stress is something that is unavoidable and happens to everyone in their daily life.
Everyone has to find a way to cope and manage stress in their life. Individuals must find
ways to reduce the negative impacts of stress on their psychological and physiological
health. Stress can be detrimental to everyone’s physical and mental health. Habibzadeh
(2015) states:
Long term exposure to stress or chronic stress can lead to serious physical and
psychological problems such as headaches, fatigue, depression, anxiety,
stomachache, heart problems, chest pain, asthma, hypertension, liver dysfunction,
diabetes, arthritis, suppressed immune system, skin conditions, irregular
ministerial cycle, infertility, accelerated aging process, and premature death. (p. 1)
While stress exists everywhere, the focus of this study will be teacher perceived stress
and the impact of mindfulness activities on teacher perceived stress. All career fields can
be stressful, and this includes education (Becker et al., 2022). The stress that educators
encounter can cause them to leave the education field and retire early (Becker et al.,
2022).
This literature review will focus on the history of mindfulness, mindfulness
practices, and how those mindfulness practices can be practiced in the field of education.
The literature review will then examine the state of education today, including teacher
burnout and teacher retention. The final section will describe stress, strategies to cope
with stress and the impact of stress. Many studies have been done on mindfulness and its
impact on health-related fields, but more research is needed on how mindfulness could

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impact teachers. This study will provide information on how mindfulness activities
impact teacher perceived stress in a rural school district.
Mindfulness
This review begins with a look at mindfulness and the history behind
mindfulness. “At its core, mindfulness is about two things: focusing your attention on the
present moment and not to evaluate all the concepts presented at the moment” (Liu et al.,
2022, p. 4). Mindfulness allows us to focus on what is currently happening and clear our
minds so that we can process everything clearly and without judgment. People have many
different ways that they can communicate, share information, and share their opinions. At
times all of these communications can lead to individuals judging others and mindfulness
practices can be used to practice being non-judgmental and accepting (Roy, 2021).
Mindfulness began in the Buddhist tradition. “It appears to have been T. W. Rhys
Davids who first translated the Buddhist technical term sati (in its Pali form) or smriti (in
its Sanskrit form) by the English word ‘mindfulness’” (Gethin, 2011, p. 263). These
Buddhist teachings help individuals focus on the current surroundings and what is
happening in that exact moment. The practice of mindfulness can help us improve and
make it a habit. There are daily stressors that exist, and educators need to be able to find a
way to remain focused and relieve stress in order to maintain longevity in the field of
education. Mindfulness practices can help them build a sense of awareness and can be
practiced at any time in order to build awareness (Roy, 2021).
Certain practices at times can be called mindfulness, but at times they are
mislabeled and not really mindfulness practices. Mindfulness can be practiced in many
ways.

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Examples
Mindfulness is used by individuals to help focus on the present and some have
seen benefits. Research states, “It has been suggested that mindfulness allows for
adaptive coping and managing stressful situations or experiences. Mindfulness is also
associated with improved psychological wellbeing” (Hepburn et al., 2021a, p. 3). While
practicing mindfulness an individual must stay focused. Roy (2021) states:
It is focusing and refocusing from moment to moment to expand awareness and
discover inner peace. Developing this skill weaves a translucent thread of lucidity
throughout the fabric of our existence. It allows the fullest and authentic
expressions of self. (p. 445)
An example of practicing mindfulness would be to focus on your breathing for a
certain length of time. This would mean focusing on the breathing itself and not to
anything else that is happening around you at the time.
Non-Examples
If mindfulness is focusing on the present, we have to think about examples of times of
when we are not practicing mindfulness. In modern society, there are many distractions
that can keep us from being mindful. If you are driving and decide to text on your phone,
you are not being mindful and present. When many individuals sit down to eat, they are
either watching television, on their phone, or computer and therefore, are not present in
enjoying and focusing on the meal. There are practices that have mindfulness
components that individuals confuse as being mindfulness practices, such as compassion
training and mindful based interventions (MBI) Roca et al. (2021) states:

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Mind training as a way to alleviate unnecessary suffering while enhancing
flourishing and well-being is central to both mindfulness and compassion
practices. However, these MBIs differ in their emphasis 1) being in the present
moment is the core of mindfulness, whereas compassion includes exercises
evoking past and future scenarios; 2) whereas mindfulness mainly trains a
nonjudgmental acceptance of one’s experience, compassion practice trains the
affective and motivational states of empathy, warmth, and kindness toward
oneself and others; 3) contemporary mindfulness also promotes the observer’s
“neutral” standpoint, whereas compassion emphasizes the appraisal of one’s
“negative/unpleasant” thoughts and feelings; and 4) compassion training has a
more prominent ethical component than does mindfulness training. Hence,
mindfulness training emphasizes self-regulation of attention. (pp. 354-355)
There has been confusion about the exact meaning of mindfulness, and some have
questioned the benefits (Liang et al., 2018.) Mindfulness has a long history and in order
to understand mindfulness we have to examine it from the beginning.
History of Mindfulness
Mindfulness has become a focus in recent years as COVID-19 caused an
increased need for something to help support individuals’ health, both mentally and
physically (Gürpınar & Ikiz, 2022). “Studies on this subject show that integrating mindful
attention awareness into school culture will create positive effects for both students and
teachers” (Gürpınar & Ikiz, 2022, p. 277). The research on the impact of mindfulness in
education is recent, but past research has been used to demonstrate that mindfulness

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generally helps to reduce stress, anxiety, pain, and depression (Liu et al., 2002; Roemer et
al., 2022).
Hinduism
All of the ancient civilizations encouraged individuals to find their inner peace
and have provided different recommended paths for people to achieve inner peace (Roy,
2021). Shah (2021) explains:
Mindfulness models trace their roots back to Buddhist traditions, which are
themselves rooted in ancient Hindu beliefs and practices. Both Hindu and
Buddhist philosophies share the idea of non-dualism, which refers to a state of
consciousness in which dichotomies are transcended and a unification is achieved
that reveals the true nature of both ourselves and the world as formless and
indivisible. (p. 2)
Hinduism presumes that everyone at some point in time suffers and that we must
work on ourselves in order to free ourselves of the suffering (Shah, 2021). Mindfulness
allows us to regain our focus and be present in the moment while releasing ourselves in
an attempt to unite our soul with the universe (Shah, 2021).
Buddhism
Mindfulness can be traced back to not only Hinduism, but also Buddhism. “The
Buddhist scholar Rupert Gethin traces the term mindfulness back to T. W. Rhys Davids,
who first translated the Buddhist technical term sati into this particular English word”
(Nilsson & Kazemi, 2016, p. 183).
There are differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. “In contrast to
Buddhism, however, Hinduism emphasizes the law of karma in the universe and

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promotes the acceptance of suffering as a natural result of karma” (Shah, 2021, p. 3).
Buddhism concentrates on how our attention is connected to our memory (Hepburn et al.,
2021a).
Mindfulness practices such as being present in the moment by focusing with a
purpose and not judging others comes from Buddhist philosophies (Reiser et al., 2016).
Gethin (2011) found the following connection:
The use of Buddhist ‘mindfulness’ practices in the context of western clinical
psychotherapy emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s and is associated above all
with the name of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his work at the Stress Reduction Clinic
(founded in 1979) and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and
Society (founded 1995) at the University of Massachusetts. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s
‘mindfulness-based stress reduction’ (MBSR) in turn fed into the development of
‘mindfulness based cognitive therapy’ (MBCT). (p. 268)
Mindfulness and Yoga
In order to determine what would be effective supports in education we have to
look at the different definitions and ways that mindfulness is practiced. Throughout
history mindfulness has been defined in different ways. Nilsson and Kazemi (2016) gives
us insight to the definition of mindfulness:
What remains to be seen is whether “mindfulness,” as used by Kabat-Zinn and
others, is really the same as “mindfulness” offered by Rhys Davids as the
translation of the Pali term sati. Whether it is possible, as Teasdale suggested in
his letter to Kabat-Zinn, to extract the essence of Buddhist meditation from its
context of karma and rebirth, which was part of Indian culture 2,600 years ago,

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and insert it without change in the very different cultures of the United States and
Europe of the 21st century. (p. 184)
One of the ways that mindfulness has been put into practices is by utilizing yoga.
Yoga has been shown to have a positive impact on individuals. Tihanyi et al. (2016)
states:
The positive psychological effects of yoga on healthy adults’ well-being, defined
as an increased rate of calmness and a state of pleasant enthusiasm, and a
decreased rate of anxiety and depressive symptoms, were reported by a number of
empirical studies. (p. 114)
Individuals can use yoga as a mindfulness practice in order to decrease anxiety and
reduce stress. Yoga practices center around movement and different breathing techniques
(Bartos et al., 2022).
Yoga has been connected to mindfulness as well as meditation. Yoga sutra is one
of the oldest texts that is able to provide information about meditation. Yoga sutra has
roots in Hinduism and includes the same practices as mindfulness. Some of these
practices include activities focused on breathing, sensation throughout the body, and
maintaining focus (Tomasino et al., 2014).
Mindfulness and Meditation
Meditation has roots in Hinduism and Buddhism (Tomasino et al., 2014) and was
integrated into the modern version of mindfulness by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn when he
created the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction method (Lin et al., 2022). “Mindful
meditation by Kabat-Zinn includes body scan method where the practitioner scans his
physical self in the moment” (Roy, 2021). Mindful meditation has shown that individuals

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experience positive emotions and demonstrate a greater awareness (Hepburn et al.,
2021a). This has been shown by studying the oxytocin levels in saliva. “Mindfulnessbased meditation has been linked to increased salivary oxytocin levels in psychology
university students (N = 68). As evidenced by Fredrickson, positive emotions can provide
an antidote to the physiological changes that occur as a result of the arousal caused by
negative emotions” (Hepburn et al., 2021a, p 4).
Mindful meditation has been shown that it can help individuals physically and
psychologically. Research by Hepburn et al. (2021a) found that:
Positive emotions support the development of an individual’s social, cognitive,
physical and psychological resources. Mindfulness-based approaches are
increasing as complementary therapies for mental health concerns, for example,
mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy. Similarly, mindfulness and
attending to the present moment are recommended to improve physical wellbeing,
such as a complementary therapy for diabetes. It is suggested that mindfulness
increases awareness of lifestyle factors and behaviours. It has also been suggested
that mindfulness training can increase interoception and proprioception
(awareness of the body) measured by heartbeat perception accuracy (HBPa)
which may support physical wellbeing. (p. 4)
Mindfulness Practices
Over the year’s mindfulness has been defined many different ways and methods
of how to practice mindfulness have varied. However, the foundation of mindfulness that
discusses bringing awareness and focus in the moment has stood the test of time and is a
way for us to focus in a particular way while maintaining that focus on the present and

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being nonjudgmental (Hepburn et al., 2021a). Individuals cannot just say they practice
mindfulness at all times, instead mindfulness has to be practiced intentionally and
“…being ‘intentionally situated’ means to be situated in the lived body, or the state of
consciousness that is achieved during such practices as body scanning, meditation, and
yoga and that ideally continues to assert itself in the course of life” (Nilsson & Kazemi,
2016, p. 190). Research has shown that components of mindfulness can help to improve
self-regulation. Cao et al. (2022) stated:
It shows that four components of mindfulness (awareness, attention, present
focus, and acceptance) could instigate four broad subsequent mental processes,
including reduction in automatic inference processing, enhancement of cognitive
control, facilitation of metacognitive insight, and prevention of thought
suppression and distortion, leading to the improvement of self-regulation. (p. 2)
Individuals may prefer to practice mindfulness in a certain way that they feel is
beneficial to them.
Breathing
One way that individuals practice mindfulness is through breathing. “Mindfulness
of breathing, for example, is about the present breath and not a breath experienced long
ago” (Anālayo, 2019, p. 12). Mindfulness breathing involves deep breathing. “Deep
breathing, which is also known as diaphragmatic breathing, is a technique that is based on
the notion that mind and body integration produces relaxation” (Toussaint et al., 2021, p.
2). Research has shown that individuals who participate in this practice have benefits to
their physical health. “The technique requires participants to contract the diaphragm,
slowly inhaling and exhaling. Deep breathing appears to amplify blood oxygen levels,

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massages the inner organs located in or close to the abdomen, and possibly stimulates the
vagus nerve” (Toussaint et al., 2021, p. 2). Along with physical health benefits this
practice has been shown to have a positive impact on an individual’s mental health.
Individuals who have practiced breathing have shown less stress and less anxiety.
(Toussaint et al., 2021).
Awareness of the Body/Mindful Movement
Deep breathing is only one technique that can be used to practice mindfulness.
While practicing mindfulness an individual must also be aware of their body. In addition
to using deep breathing, movement can also be used to practice mindfulness. Body
awareness becomes part mindfulness meditation and includes yoga. “Fortunately, the
mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR), which has recently attracted much
scholarly attention, includes hatha yoga, which provides a standardized form of the
otherwise diverse collection of different yoga protocols” (Tihanyi et al., 2016, p. 113).
Yoga has been around for many years and can be traced back to India, but has evolved
over time (Birdee et al., 2009). Mindfulness can help to improve body awareness
(Mohammed et al., 2018).
Guided Imagery
In addition to deep breathing and self-awareness of the body individuals also use
guided imagery to practice mindfulness. Jallo et al. (2015) provides us with what guided
imagery mindfulness is in practice:
Guided imagery (GI), is a dynamic, psychophysiological modality in which a
person imagines and experiences an internal reality in the absence of external
stimuli. The incredible power of the mind creates mental images that connect an

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associated emotion to the body which leads to changes in feeling and physiologic
states. GI is an intervention that has been used for the self-management of stress
and the resultant stress responses. (p. 250)
Individuals practicing guided imagery have been shown to have less stress, fewer
negative emotions, relief of headaches and muscle aches, while using guided imagery
(Jallo et al., 2015).
Sensory Experiences / Mindful Communication
Deep breathing, guided imagery, and body awareness all use our senses and have
us focus deeply on the present without judgment. When practicing mindfulness, we have
to be mindful of what a sensory experience means. “Sensory refers to the transmission of
information through the nervous system and brain in response to an external trigger, and
the individual’s simultaneous perception of this feedback with the senses” (del Campo &
Kehle, 2016, p. 99). During these sensory experiences, individual focus on that trigger
can then have an impact on the effect of that trigger (del Campo & Kehle, 2016).
One way to practice mindfulness using a sensory experience is through music.
“Scientific research has not revealed why music, which is universal throughout all
cultures with few exceptions, can cause both positive and negative emotional responses”
(del Campo & Kehle, 2016, p. 1010). During this mindfulness practice, individuals can
pay attention to their emotions and what impact the music has on them and their
emotions.
Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation can be used to practice mindfulness and has been demonstrated to
increase positive emotions (Hepburn et al., 2021b). “Mindfulness meditation practice was

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proposed to be a process toward enhanced self-regulation, consisting of the interplay of
attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation” (Tihanyi et al., 2016, p. 115).
During a mindful meditation individuals explore their current feelings, thoughts, and
have an awareness of their bodily sensations (Cao et al., 2022). Meditation is something
that takes focus and practice as Rosenbaum and Bohart (2021) state:
More fundamentally, the very act of meditation is not purely a matter of
individual talent or effort. If you approach meditation this way, you’ll strain and
get frustrated. Meditation requires us to let go, open up, become receptive to
mindfulness, and become a vessel for mindfulness—not its master. (p.127)
When meditation is practiced and used with fidelity it can improve attention, self-control,
along with relaxation and the ability to pay attention (Liu et al., 2021).
Mindfulness in Education
Mindfulness in education is a practice that is becoming common. Over time many
researchers have researched mindfulness training and the positive way it can impact
employee physical and mental health in the workplace and education is now looking at
those impacts and how they can be incorporated into the education field (Kay & Young,
2022). One reason this is occurring is that teachers have experienced many changes over
the past few years and leaders are seeking ways to support their staff. “In a meta-analysis,
Longueil and Renshaw mentioned that mindfulness-based interventions with teachers are
promising for increasing their mindfulness and psychological well-being and for
decreasing psychological distress” (Janssen et al., 2020, p. 3).

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Practices in Education
As more research is conducted and leaders seek to find how to support staff using
mindfulness techniques, they are looking at how mindfulness would impact the field of
education. Mindfulness practices are becoming a regular practice in education and are
being used as interventions with both staff and students as interventions. Janssen et al.
(2020) discovered:
Mental health interventions in the educational sector are mostly secondary
preventive and targeted at the individual level, with the goal of enhancing the
ability of teachers to cope with stressors in the workplace. Examples are
workshops on stress management skills and mindfulness-based stress reduction
(MBSR) programmes. MBSR has been shown to be partly effective in influencing
mental health outcomes. (p. 3)
Educators are also exploring new ways to provide and practice mindfulness into
their daily routines. The ways to practice mindfulness are widening and now there are
ways to practice mindfulness with technology: “…management educators have a
promising new technology at their disposal to help their students rise to the challenge:
online mindfulness training” (Kay & Young, 2022, p. 262). More research is needed to
show the specific impact of mindfulness in the field of education and on the use of online
mindfulness that is available to educators.
State of Education Today
Educators have been forced to rethink education over the past few years. COVID19 caused educators to think outside of the box and reflect on how to provide education
to students while not in a traditional classroom. In person instruction had to shift to all

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virtual instruction, and now educators are trying to find ways to address student needs
while trying to make up for any learning loss that occurred. The government is trying to
hold schools accountable for student achievement, and more duties have been added to
teachers’ daily workload. All of these factors have led to increased stress in education.
Accountability for schools began in the 1980s. “From the initial rise of the
modern U.S. school accountability movement during the 1980s, SEAs were accustomed
to playing the passive role of compliance monitor for their LEAs and schools”
(VanGronigen et al., 2022, p. 3). This led to districts putting accountability measures in
place locally and as Tye and O’Brien (2002) found:
By the fall of 2000, it had been about a year since we’d started noticing that our
master’s degree students— conscientious elementary and secondary school
teachers — were complaining with increasing bitterness about a changing work
environment in the public schools. ‘The love I had for my work is gone,’ we were
hearing them say. ‘I never used to feel this way, but now it’s hard to drag myself
to school each day.’ (p. 24)
Teachers began to feel like they were told what to do and there was a lack of trust in their
ability to teach and make decisions after being given the standards and the state
assessments (Tye & O’Brien, 2002).
At that point there was a changing school environment and then in 2002 No Child
Left Behind was passed in legislation. States had to take a look and evaluate how to
improve schools that were underperforming immediately. However, states at that point
were not equipped to be able to do this as quickly as they had to in order to meet the
NCLB guidelines. They were lacking the resources, so local districts had to find a way to

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try to make improvements themselves. There were some schools that did try to make
these improvements, but in the end not many showed improved results (VanGronigen et
al., 2002). Therefore, in 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act was reauthorized. Every
Student Succeeds act allowed the states and local levels to use multiple points of data and
provided multiple ways to measure schools (Edmonds-Behrend et al., 2020).
However, with this reauthorization the teachers still felt that high stakes testing
was a priority over their judgment on what the students needed. Tye and O’Brien (2002)
stated:
State standards and high-stakes tests dictate the curriculum—what is to be
taught— regardless of what any given group of youngsters may actually need to
learn and despite the professional judgment of the teacher. When so much of what
goes on in our schools is mandated from afar (and often by noneducators, who
know as much about the teaching/learning process as educators do about DNA
supercoiling), there is a real risk that the nation’s teaching force will be de-skilled,
reduced to technicians who need only carry out the plans that others have made.
(p. 27)
Along with the increased focus on high stakes testing teachers in districts
experienced larger class sizes and longer work hours (Tye & O’Brien, 2002). Not only
were there larger class sizes and longer hours, but teachers were also working in poor
physical environments, paid low wages, and received poor benefits (Kwon et al., 2022).
Along with all these factors COVID then came along and created unpredicted changes in
the way teachers had to provide instruction to their students and changed everything
about education. Coming out of the pandemic, teachers left the profession and schools

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are now facing difficulties filling positions with qualified candidates. There was already
difficulty for some schools to fill positions in certain fields, but now it is increasingly
more difficult. “Increasingly more schools are not being able to hire adequate candidates,
especially for the subjects of math, French and technical subjects, and teacher shortages
are mainly concentrated in inner cities” (Amitai & Van Houtte, 2021, p. 2).
During the pandemic, most schools experienced a period of closure when learning
had to occur online for all students. The use of technology can be beneficial in education,
but “The use of online teaching methods has been specifically linked to teacher stress
with negative impacts on teaching effectiveness identified” (Christian et al., 2020 as cited
in Minihan et al., 2002, p. 3). Therefore, teachers are showing more signs of stress than
before.
Between accountability measures, COVID-19 complications, long days, and low
pay, further research on the causes of stress and how to provide supports to teachers to
handle their stress would be beneficial. Students’ success is impacted by the teacher and
the teacher’s stress level. The reasons why teachers are leaving the profession must be
examined in order to ensure that there are enough teachers in the profession to provide an
education of the highest quality to our youth (Reiser et al., 2016).
Teachers leaving the profession/retiring early
The number of teachers entering the field has decreased along with the large
numbers of teachers leaving the profession not just for retirement purposes (Amitai &
Van Houtte, 2022). A close look needs to be taken to see if there is a relationship
between stress and the number of teachers leaving the profession or the lack of teachers
entering the field of education along with the impact of mindfulness on stress. This will

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help determine if mindfulness can help reduce stress and be used to support teachers to
stay in the profession.
Work Load
Over the years, teachers have been expected to do more. “For years, intensifying
demands in the classroom and job market have generated increasing levels of student
stress and burnout” (Kay & Young, 2022, p. 261).
The increased workload has been felt by many teachers. There is a shortage of
substitutes and therefore when another teacher is out other teachers in the building are
then assigned to cover additional classes (Janssen et al., 2020). When a teacher has to
cover additional classes, they do not get any time to prepare for the next day and in turn
must put in extra time outside the workday in order to be prepared for the following day.
“The boundary between private and professional lives blurs when novices work this
many hours. One teacher suggested that for novices, a full-time position should consist of
less than 22 hours in order to lessen the pressure on beginners” (Amitai & Van Houtte,
2022, p. 7). Teachers are not planning for one class or one group of students but instead
are planning for multiple classes and many students each day. Amitai and Van Houtte
(2022) found that:
Due to a lack of incentive to share courses between teachers, novices often feel
they are required to create all of their own content, greatly increasing the
preparation time of their lessons and their workload, pushing novice teachers over
the edge and triggering exhaustion and burnout in some respondents. (p. 7)
This also applies to veteran teachers who need to constantly revise their lessons
in order to meet their current students’ needs. Janssen et al. (2020) stated that:

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This imbalance between job demands and resources and its associated risk of
negative effects on one’s well-being may be an important reason that many novice
teachers leave the educational sector within the first 5 years of their career and
that many experienced teachers retire early. In fact, 45–70 percent of early
retirements in the educational sector can be attributed to psychosomatic and
psychological problems. (p. 2)
Accountability
The federal government and the state both have accountability measures in place
for school districts and in turn districts have accountability systems in place for the
teachers. Jerrim et al. (2021) discovered:
As a job, teaching requires staff to work long hours, keep up with changing
government requirements and manage often disruptive classrooms. This, of
course, all occurs under the watchful eye of the accountability system, with
schools (and teachers) judged by how young people perform in high-stakes
national examinations. (p. 692)
Teachers feel the pressure of students having to perform well on the tests or being
evaluated poorly based on the performance. As research by Tye and O’Brien (2002)
found that:
Those respondents who had already left teaching ranked the pressures of
increased accountability (high stakes testing, test preparation, and standards) as
their number-one reason for leaving, followed closely by increased paperwork,
changing student characteristics, negativity and pressure from parents and the
community, and tension between teachers and administration. (p. 27)

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Accountability is important in any field, but the way accountability is
implemented can make a difference. Teachers have reported the current accountability
model as a reason for leaving the profession (Jerri et al., 2022).
Lack of Support
Everyone needs to feel supported in their workplace. Räsänen et al. (2020) states,
“Lack of professional commitment and factors related to the school system and workload
were the main reasons for teacher turnover intention” (p. 837). Tye and O’Brien’s (2002)
study discovered:
In order to feel supported we need to feel like we are trusted to make decisions.
The lack of trust in the professionalism of teachers and anxiety about national
educational standards have led to a policing mentality among administrators. . ..
The introduction of many more reporting and documenting requirements, as well
as the standardization of many aspects of teaching, contributes both to the much
noted increase in overall work load and to the erosion of pleasures of the job. . .
[such as] flexibility, challenge, creativity, working with and for people. (p.30)
Teachers ‘workloads are increasing, and they feel not only a lack of trust, but a lack of
support from the public, colleagues, and administration (Räsänen et al., 2020; Amitai &
Van Houtte, 2022). “A good many respondents pointed out that, while lack of parent
support is a problem, many parents actually take an adversarial position, making life very
difficult and unpleasant for teachers” (Tye & O’Brien, 2002, p. 29).
Student Behavior
Too often the lack of parent support becomes obvious when teachers call home
about student behavior. The lack of student respect and students ‘behavior is another

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reason that teachers cite for leaving the profession (Tye & O’Brien, 2002). Amitai and
Van Houtte (2022) state:
Former novice teachers who had to contend with a high workload often indicated
they also struggled in their interaction with students in specific classes, mainly
regarding class management, making it ‘emotionally too hard to cope’. Novice
teachers stressed that they sometimes struggled with the diversity among students
in their school e in several regards, such as futility feelings among the students, a
low socioeconomic status and the role of ethnicity, all of which resulted in
increased class management issues. (p.76)
The difficulty handling classroom management has led to teachers leaving the
profession. “In our study, people who left teaching after five or more years in the
classroom ranked changes in student behavior and attitudes a close third after the
pressures of standards and high-stakes testing and mountains of paperwork” (Tye &
O’Brien, 2002, p. 29).
Wages and Benefits
Teachers who left the profession indicate that wages and benefits were the last
reason for leaving. They indicated that the accountability due to high stakes testing and
the work environment itself were more crucial in making their decision to leave the
profession (Tye & O’Brien, 2002). However, wages and benefits are still a factor since
this varies from state to state and district to district. (Tye & O’Brien, 2002).
Burnout and Stress
All of these pressures create the kind of stress that can impact teachers’ physical
and mental wellbeing (Jerrim et al., 2021). The teaching profession is one of those

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professions with the highest levels of work-related stress (Kyriacu, 2015). “The complex
classroom environment and the high density of interactions as well as discipline
problems, unmotivated students, and classroom disruptions are cited as potential acute
stressors” (Janssen et al., 2020, p. 2). The stress that is encountered during work can
cause teachers to have a high rate of absenteeism or even retire early (Janssen et al.,
2020). Teachers who encounter these challenges may choose to leave the profession for
different reasons including lack of respect, job satisfaction, the workload, lack of trust,
salary, benefits, student behavior, and working conditions (Jerrim et al., 2021). It is not
only important to look at the reasons teachers leave, but also how we can retain teachers
in the field of education and how teachers leaving the profession have an impact on
students.
Teacher Retention
The difficulty of filling positions with qualified candidates combined with
teachers leaving the profession is not something new. This problem goes back many
years. Back in 2012 research showed that teacher satisfaction had fallen, and many
teachers were leaving the field after their first year (Reiser et al., 2016).
Teacher turnover could have a negative impact on students and the workplace
environment (Reiser et al., 2016). In order to retain teachers, we have to think about the
level of support teachers are given when first entering the profession. Tye and O’Brien
(2002) stated:
First, human capital theory holds that a person will make decisions to leave a job
or career based on how much he or she has invested in it— in effect, weighing the
benefits and costs involved in making a change. According to this theory, the

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more complex the initial training and the longer one has held a position, the less
likely one is to see leaving it as a plausible option. (p. 25)
Teacher Training
Investing time in providing a teacher with the training they need in order to be
successful is a must. Districts need to look at individuals and provide training that is
personalized to that teacher but also find ways to listen to the new teachers and hear their
ideas. New teachers can bring excitement and a positive impact to the environment.
Janssen et al. (2020) states, “Balancing the top-down-bottom-up dialog is also needed to
promote meaningful and ambitious enough professional learning for autonomous teachers
and contribute to the further development of the educational system” (p. 854). New
teachers not only have to have their need for professional development met, but we also
need to tap into their areas of expertise and give them a voice. This can be tricky to do
with all the requirements for the state and requires finding a balance.
It is a complex issue, involving factors such as teachers’ dispositions, their
preparation for teaching in rural and remote locations through their initial teacher
education programs, their induction to beginning teaching and the level and type
of support provided to beginning teachers within their initial postings. (Kelly,
2015, p. 1).
This emphasizes the importance of looking at each teacher individually and finding their
needs.
Environment and Relationships
The climate and culture of a building can have an impact on teacher’s thoughts on
the job itself. Tye and O’Brien (2002) gives ideas about ways to improve the work

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environment for teachers that included making sure that buildings are in good repair and
upgraded, allowing teachers to have a voice when making decisions, reducing class sizes,
obtaining community and parent support, and helping teachers build relationships with
each other.
Relationships can be a major factor in determining how the teacher perceives the
work environment. Schools can help retain teachers by assigning new teachers a mentor
who can develop a relationship that will be long lasting. Low et al. (2022) points out that,
“Having positive social interactions with colleagues, especially with the more
experienced teachers, also helped Career Stage 1 teachers remain professionally
committed” (p. 8). This not only can lead to new teachers feeling supported and
remaining the profession, but it is also beneficial to the veteran teachers. “As teacher’s
progress in their career, they take on a more nurturing role to younger colleagues and are,
in turn, energized by them” (Low et al., 2022, p. 8).
Not only can relationships with colleagues make a difference, but educators go
into teaching because they want to make a difference and teach students. “Across all
career stages, teachers made the point that having a positive relationship with their
students kept them committed. Teachers who teach vulnerable or students who ‘need
them more ‘also felt more committed” (Low et al., 2022, p. 8). Teachers keep students in
the forefront of all their decisions, and it is no surprise that Amitai and Van Houtte
(2022) found:
Former teachers univocally reported that their main source of job satisfaction was
their interaction with students, feeling trusted by them and engaging them to
learn, ‘as you are raising a whole generation, which is something you can rarely

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do in other jobs’. Some teachers even described their students and colleagues as
almost becoming ‘a part of their family’, creating a high sense of relatedness. (p.
5)
Administration
Leaders can determine the success or failure of an organization. It is no surprise
that teachers who are listened to, trusted, respected, supported, and motivated by school
leaders were more committed to the profession (Low et al., 2022). On the other hand, “If
administration fails to provide a supportive work environment and meaningful
professional development opportunities, then teachers will continue to experience
disempowerment and, ultimately, choose to leave the field” (Hester et al., 2020, p. 362).
Impact
Teachers leaving the profession early paired with the lack of individuals going
into the teaching profession can have consequences. When teacher turnover is high then
that can negatively impact the climate and culture of the school environment which in
turn then has an impact on student engagement and achievement (Räsänen et al., 2020).
If there is a large amount of turnover then the organization itself can be disturbed
and community trust can be lost (Amitai & Van Houtte, 2022). It is important that
everyone be aware of the current state of education and look at how the education system
can be supported. This begins with listening to the teachers and researching the most
effective ways to retain teachers in the field of education.

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Stress
It is important that employers provide supports to employees to help manage
stress in a healthy way otherwise it can be detrimental to their mental and physical health
resulting in burnout and a lower level of performance (Janssen et al., 2020).
Definition of Stress
da Costa Brasi et al. (2021) defines stress as, “Any intrinsic or extrinsic stimulus
that evokes a biological answer is known as stress” (p. 2). In education stress is referred
to as teacher stress and Jain (2021) defines this as, “… the experience by a teacher of
unpleasant, negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, tension, frustration or depression,
resulting from some aspect of their work as a teacher” (p. 19). The inability to cope with
work demands can lead to burnout. Jain (2021) explains when burnout happens,
“…occurs when teachers undergo stress for prolonged periods of time and begin to
experience feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a loss of personal
accomplishment” (Jain, 2021, p. 19). Research has studied the psychological and physical
impacts of stress and employers need to understand how stress can impact employees.
Psychological Stress
“Psychological stress arises when a situation is interpreted to be threatening and,
at the same time, resources are judged to be insufficient to cope with the situation”
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, as cited in Becker et al., 2022, p. 2). Research has shown that
when this occurs individuals can experience negative effect such as nervousness or
anxiety (Becker et al., 2022).
Psychological stress can causes burn out. “Maslach and Jackson described a range
of physical and psychological symptoms of burnout in an individual, including loss of

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self- esteem, depression, alcohol abuse, and exhaustion” (Maslach et al., 2001, as cited in
Minihan et al., 2022, p. 3). Research has shown that mindfulness can help with the
negative impacts of these symptoms.
In more detail, body-mind psychotherapists agree that body awareness (1)
facilitates the inner dialogues which govern behaviour based on need states, (2)
strengthens the self-regulation in stress response, (3) helps know and respect more
the self-borders and thus enables the interpersonal communication to be more
effective, (4) directs the attention on ‘what is’ instead of ‘what should be’, which
strengthens the skill of acceptance, (5) enhances the sense of self and selfconfidence. (Fogel, 2009, as cited in Tihanyi et al., 2016, p. 114)
Physiological Stress
Stress impacts employees psychologically and also physiologically. Becker states
that, “It could be shown repeatedly that stress affects the mental and physical health of
teachers and has a negative impact on the quality of their teaching and consequently on
the performance and motivation of their students” (Klussman et al., 2020. “This impact
might be related to the influence of the physiological stress response on cognitive
functions” (Becker et al., 2022, p. 1). Many different factors can cause stress, and then
the body responds differently in different people and in various ways (Becker et al.,
2022).
Stressors
Individuals handle stress in different ways and stressors can impact individuals
differently. It is not only the frequency of stress that is important but also the types of
stress that each individual experiences. Koffer et al. (2016) states:

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However, stressor exposure on its own provides an incomplete picture of
individuals’ stressor experiences. Additionally, useful information may be
provided by stressor diversity—the dispersion of “hassles” across multiple
domains. High stressor diversity involves, for instance, exposure to many types of
stressors (e.g., health stressors, financial stressors, home chore overloads, work
stressors, and interpersonal tensions), while low stressor diversity involves
exposure to only a few types of stressors (e.g., only work stressors and
arguments). (p. 301)
These stressors have changed over time. As society changes so does the stressors that we
experience. A close look needs to be taken to evaluate each stressor and the amount of
stress each individual experiences in relation to that stressor. One new stressor in society
over time has been the introduction of technology. Almeida et al. (2020) states:
In the 1990s, people were not fully interconnected by the web, smart phones were
nonexistent, and the U.S. economy was expanding. Since then, the world has
witnessed a global recession, political upheaval, and the rise of a technologically
more advanced, and arguably faster paced, world. We examined how stress in the
daily lives of Americans may have changed across this time period, comparing
the daily lives of adults in the 1990s to similarly aged adults in the 2010s.
Generally, adults in the 2010s reported experiencing a greater number of daily
stressors, and—as a group—they reported these stressors as being more severe
and posing a greater risk to their finances and to their future compared to the
reports of same-aged adults in the 1990s. They also reported higher levels of daily
distress than did their same aged peers in the 1990s. (p. 519)

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The future is unpredictable and as everything changes the stressors will also
change, which is why research is needed to help indicate what supports are the most
successful in helping individuals handle stress in a healthy way.
Social Media
One of the newest stressors is social media.
What started out, theoretically, as a novel way to ‘connect’ people on a wide scale
has now been implicated in social anxiety disorder, which is the third leading
psychological disorder in the United States, as well as in other forms of stress.
(Nahai, 2018, p. 689)
Research has shown that when individuals view individuals’ successes on social media it
can cause feelings of loneliness and unhappiness (Nahai, 2018). In addition,
Most digital natives have grown up with new technologies such as the Internet,
smartphones, laptops and social media. They value personal growth, family and
friends, and love challenges, but their sense of reality is poor, so they are prone to
emotional distress. (Lin et al., 2022, p. 1).
Stressors in Education
Research on stress in the education field has been done over time. Califf and
Brooks (2020) indicates that stressors found have been “…maintaining discipline, time
pressure, workload, and teaching unmotivated students, among others” (p. 2). Okoh et al.
(2022) states, “Stress is every mental and physical condition that has an impression on a
personality's productivity, effectiveness, personal health, and quality of labor. One
profession that is most likely to be disagreeable is that the teaching profession” (p. 510).

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Stress is prevalent in education and in order to provide a healthy work environment for
staff and a healthy environment for students we have to identify those stressors.
Technology
Research has indicated that one stress in education is technology. “Recent studies
on teacher stress have also determined that using technology can be a major stressor, and
that K-12 teachers are indeed susceptible to experiencing technostress related to using
technology” (Califf & Brooks, 2020, p. 2). Technology can be a beneficial tool for
teachers to use to provide instruction and when COVID closed schools around the
country the teachers had to use technology in order to provide instruction to students
virtually. However, “The initial research on technology as a component of teacher stress
has identified a few specific techno-stressors, such as unreliable technology, usability
issues, and not having enough time to integrate technology into their curriculum”
(Syv¨anen et al., 2016; Çoklar et al., 2016, as citied in Califf & Brooks, 2020, p. 2).
Schools need to be mindful of the fact that technology can cause stress on the teachers.
However, realistically technology is something that must be present in today’s schools in
order to ensure that we are educating students for an unpredictable future. Califf and
Brooks (2020) reminds us that there are positives, but we must also be aware of the
negative impacts. Technology is used in all schools and can be used to positively impact
student learning and engagements, but there are some concerns that technology can also
cause a form of stress called technostress. “Conceptually, technostress is an overarching
process that includes technology-related stressors (i.e., techno-stressors), psychological
strain, and workplace outcomes, such as organizational commitment and turnover

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
intention” (Califf & Brooks, 2020, p. 1). All parties using technology needs to be aware
of this and find ways to offset that additional stress.
Environment
Teachers can be impacted by many things in their lives that can cause them stress.
They experience stress from both personal and work lives. The environments that they
are in can be causes of stress for teachers.
A number of specific demands are consistently linked to teacher stress, including
classroom management and student discipline, larger class sizes and poor
administrative climate. However, it is the teacher’s perception of an imbalance
between such demands and their resources that contributes to vulnerability to
stress, job dissatisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. (Feng, 2010; Loeb
et al., 2005, as cited in Reiser et al., 2016, p. 119)
How a teacher views the job demands determines if they view it as stressful or not and to
which degree. Huang et al. (2022) found that having large class sizes can be more
stressful to preservice teachers because of their lack of experiences on the job.
Over the past few years many teachers are showing more signs of stress.
Robinson et al. (2022) found that:
At the individual level, teachers frequently cited the heightened demands they
faced while teaching during a pandemic. Increased workload associated with
preparing for and facilitating online learning as well as supporting students with
social-emotional concerns or issues associated with the pandemic caused the lines
between home and work to become blurred. (p. 9)

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
The pandemic caused an increase of stress in the workplace for teachers who were
already feeling stressed. Teachers must be prepared to provide instruction, and Okoh et
al. (2022) discovered that many teachers have late nights and lack sleep because they are
planning for class. Janssen (2020) found that,
More than 30 percent of teachers have reported that major changes in the work
context are an important cause of work-related stress. Teachers are expected to
meet higher job demands (e.g., high workload, emotional strain) with fewer job
resources, especially less professional autonomy. (p. 2)
These changes have caused a higher level of stress in the workplace which can lead to
teachers leaving the profession. MacIntyre et al. stated, “It is reported that up to 40
percent of teachers leave the profession within their first five years” (p. 26).
Support
Teachers’ jobs include many duties. Teachers are not only responsible for
planning lessons, providing that instruction to students, being able to motivate and
engage the students in the learning process while successfully managing classroom
behaviors, but also with many other administrative tasks (Okoh et al., 2022). With
everything required of teachers at work they at time can have difficulty balancing
personal and work lives (Jain, 2021). Research has shown that an additional stressor to
trying to keep their lives in balance is the lack of support. Jin et al. (2020) states:
Teachers experience role stress and are consequently unsure of their superiors’
expectations and how they will judge the outcomes of their decisions. Teachers
will ‘hesitate to make decisions and will have to rely on a trial and error
approach.’ Teachers with ambiguous roles would waste more time in struggling to

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
define and understand their own roles, which is bad for decision-making and
problem-solving, resulting in increasing job burnout. (p. 2)
The chance of teacher burn out can lead to high teacher turnover.
Strategies to Cope with Stress
Pogere et al. (2019) defines coping, “as the person’s efforts to manage specific
external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the person’s
resources” (Pogere et al., 2019, p. 270). Teachers need to be supported by all
stakeholders in order to remain satisfied with their jobs and remain in the education
profession (Richards et al., 2016). Teachers must find a way to cope with job demands. In
order to do this, teachers need to be able to identify their stressors and be aware of their
response to those stressors. Once they are able to identify those, they can then use
strategies in order to cope with that stress. Research found that beginning teachers used
different strategies to handle the stress. “In order to cope with these challenges, the
beginning teachers used various strategies including collaboration, conformity,
influencing and autonomy” (Jain, 2021, p. 20).
Jain (2021) states:
A range of positive coping strategies were used such as taking the mind off work
matters, developing hobbies and interests outside school, seeking social support,
organising and prioritising work, using cognitive reframing strategies and relying
on experience with teaching to manage the workload and stress. (p. 24)
Liu et al. (2022) also found that:
Humans are often more sensitive to negative things than to positive ones; for
example, people are more sensitive to danger, referred to in psychology as

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
negativity bias, which makes people feel stressed and leads to anxiety and even
depression. The principle behind mindfulness stress reduction is to help people
get rid of negativity bias by awareness and non-judgment. Therefore, when we
enter a state of mindfulness, where we accept all our thoughts and feelings
without judgment, and can harness our attention to the present moment, our stress
and anxiety caused by negative bias will be reduced. (p. 4)
Teachers who practice mindfulness can experience a reduction in stress but
providing supports that teachers have indicated in previous research is also important.
Tuettemann and Punch (1992) found that:
From teachers' responses to individual items making up their perceptions of
'having some influence on what happened in the school', it appears that the
following characteristics among school administrators are effective in reducing
teacher vulnerability to stress: a school administration willing to put into practice
ideas suggested by teachers, a principal who is open to criticisms to the
administration policy and practices in the schools, who is willing to accept ideas
which disagree with his/her own, ready to consult with teachers, willing to make
use of teachers' specific talents and interests, good at keeping teachers informed
of school events, and whose rules can be questioned by staff. (p. 188)
In order to provide students with the best education possible, it is important to provide
teachers with coping strategies. “The high rates of depressive symptomology we found as
well as and the important role that teacher well-being plays in classroom quality and child
outcomes, call for effective interventions that will improve teacher well-being including

39

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
mental health outcomes” (Linnan et al., 2017; Whitaker et al. 2013, as cited in Kwon et
al., 2022, pp. 164-165).
The strategies provided to help with teachers can differ for each teacher. Some
may find one strategy more beneficial than another. One of the strategies that can help
reduces stress is to encourage teachers to participate in their own hobbies. Jenkins et al.
(2019) states, “Being able to pursue hobbies was associated with reduced stress and a
better work-life balance” (p. 353). Ensuring that each teacher is provided strategies to
cope with stress can help the teachers remain in education.
Chill Rooms
The Allegheny Health Network has partnered with schools in the area to provide
Chill Rooms.
Chill Rooms are designed as quiet, calming spaces, and each is staffed five days a
week by a pair of AHN professionals, a behavioral health school educator and
behavioral health therapist, the latter in place on behalf of students who require
intensive and individualized social, emotional and behavioral support. (Funk,
2022, para. 4)
This space and support for students can also help reduce teacher stress since the
students are finding support, they need then when in the classroom the students are able
to concentrate on learning.
Impact of Stress
Teachers experience stress in different ways and react differently to different
stressors. Okoh et al. (2022) found:

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
The stress teachers complain about involves inferences on student’s interactions,
teaching ability, life after work, networking socially among others. Poor job
performance is seen as some teachers hardly plan and prepare their lesson notes,
and when some do, they are poorly done. Others rarely give assignments, and
even when they do, they are not often marked and corrected. So many times,
schemes of work set out for each class in each term are not completed diligently
by some teachers. Some teachers are not always punctual at lessons while some
others are not there when it is their teaching period, absenteeism from work due to
health challenges, and some others are found transferring aggression on students;
all these could likely be the aftermath of stress on the teachers. (p. 510)
Stress can impact teachers differently in different situations research has indicated that it
shows in two ways. “Stress is known to manifest in two ways; first, it can alter an
individual’s behaviour and decisions surrounding their health (for example, diet and
lifestyle choices) and second, stress can trigger alterations in physiological systems thus
increasing the risk of disease” (Hepburn et al., 2021a, p. 4).
Physical Health
Stress can manifest physically in individuals. Banerjee and Mehta (2016) states,
“Physical stress can be brought on by such things as work overload, deficient amount of
rest and a poor diet” (p. 9). Physical stress has been shown to cause physical symptoms
such as increased heart rate (da Costa Brasi et al., 2021) along with pain in the back,
knees, and neck (Kwon et al., 2022). In addition to these symptoms many teachers also
have reported to have headaches (Kwon et al., 2022).

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Mental Health
Stress can have a negative effect on physical health, but it can also impact
individuals negatively in regard to their mental health. “Mental stress can be traced to a
person’s mental state of mind involving everyday emotions like hopes, worries and
regrets” (Bannerjee & Mehta, 2016, p. 9). Hepburn et al. (2021a) explained:
Physiological stressors are considered stressors that ‘start out in the body’ and
psychological stressors ‘start out as ideas, fears, and sources of anxiety and that
only later become part of the workings of the body’. The physiological changes
undertaken to ensure an organism’s survival involve powerful neuroendocrinal
changes within the body and equally powerful emotional changes. The emotions
most commonly associated with the stress response are anxiety as anticipation or
apprehension in the absence of a threat, anger as an outwardly focused, reactive
impulse and fear generated in the presence of the threat. Chronic stress and
trauma can trigger anxiety symptoms and play a role in the development of
anxiety-related conditions such as general anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and
acute stress disorders, which impact sleep patterns, functioning and productivity
at work, relationships, and create feelings of fear, panic and pessimistic thoughts.
(p. 4)
Stress can take a toll on a teacher’s physical and mental health and this is something that
we need to be aware of in order to provide the appropriate supports.
Summary
This literature review has given research on mindfulness, stress, and the state of
education. Educators are leaving the profession and this along with the lack of individuals

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entering the teaching profession have made it critical for leaders to find ways to help
support the teachers and reduce teacher stress. One way to do this is the use of
mindfulness activities. If there is no intervention then the stress can cause anxiety and
have negative impact on the teacher’s instruction (Hepburn et al., 2021b). Kwon et al.
(2022) states, “Targeted support and resources are needed to promote the recruitment and
retention of a more educated and skilled ECE workforce and protect the health of such a
workforce” (pp. 165-166). Research has shown that mindfulness can help individuals
cope with stress. Hepburn et al. (2021a) found that, “University students reporting high
levels of mindfulness reported lower levels of depression, fatigue, tension and confusion”
(p. 1) while Wang et al. (2022) found that “Preschool teachers with a high level of
mindfulness could perceive, understand, use, and manage their emotions better, and
tended to use positive coping strategies when faced with challenges, resulting in less
burnout” (p. 10).
When supports are given to teachers to help ensure that they are healthy mentally
and physically, then they can educate students effectively and if they do not have
supports and are stressed then that can negatively impact the overall organization and
students’ performance (Reiser et al., 2016).

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CHAPTER III
Methodology
The literature review focused on stress, the state of education, and how
mindfulness can impact teacher perceived stress. This action research will help to
determine the perceived causes of the teacher perceived stress, if teacher demographics
impact perceived stress, the teacher perception of mindfulness in the classroom, and if
mindfulness has an impact on reducing teacher perceived stress. If teacher perceived
stress is reduced this could lead to a positive learning environment, and a more positive
learning environment could lead to higher student achievement.
Teachers who are under high levels of stress have been shown to be less effective
instructors in the classroom and have students who perform below expectations (Arens &
Morin, 2016). It is common knowledge that everyone encounters stress and the stress
everyone endures can be both positive and negative.
Yerkes-Dodson law explain that a certain amount of stress produces a positive
force that can increase individual productivity and help individuals to develop.
After reaching the optimum point, stress tend to be destructive and tend to cause
negative effect for indivudal. (Hanouch & Vitouch, 2004, as cited in Musabiq &
Karimah, 2020)
For administrators it is important to remember that all the leaders in education are
aware of teacher perceived stress levels and they stay within a range that doesn’t become
destructive. We need to ensure the negative impact of stress on the environment and the
students is kept to a minimal level. Finding ways to help reduce stress and supports to be
put in place for teachers in order to create an optimal learning environment for all

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students and faculty should be a priority. It is important to find the most beneficial ways
to help reduce teacher perceived stress in order to ensure they remain healthy and provide
an optimal learning environment for students to be successful.
Another important reason to find ways to help reduce teacher perceived stress is
that society is at a tipping point where teachers are leaving the profession at a fast rate
with smaller populations entering the field of education. We need to find ways to help
support all teachers and reduce the stress so they remain in the field of education and
individuals enter the field of education. One of the ways we can help maintain and draw
teachers in is to address workplace stress. Steiner and Woo (2021) state, “Taken
together, these results suggest that job-related stress poses immediate and long-term
threats to the teacher supply” (p. 2).
The literature review demonstrated mindfulness has been shown to be effective
for other groups. It has been shown to help support individuals with mood disorders,
anxiety disorders, borderline personality disorders, depression, and individuals who
showed an increase in mental health needs (Moyes et. al., 2022). In patients with
depression, Costa and Barnhofer (2016) found, “Altogether our findings suggest that use
of mindfulness meditation in acute depression is feasible and can be reasonably helpful in
reducing symptoms and maintaining early gains” (p. 9).
There has been a lot of research completed on mindfulness and its impact of
different groups of individuals, but there have not been many studies completed on the
impact of mindfulness on teacher perceived stress. This action research will focus on
current K-12 educators in a rural Pennsylvania school district and the impact mindfulness

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
activities can have on their teacher perceived stress. This study will provide information
that can be used for practicing teachers, but also implemented for pre-service teachers.
It is important to find ways to support individuals who are entering the field of
education from the very beginning. Paquette and Rieg (2016) suggest, “Identifying the
stressors and providing healthy coping strategies may assist pre-service teachers'
classroom performance” (p. 1). The ability to support teachers from the very start can
determine what occurs in the future. “The future workforce plays an immensely
important part in driving innovation and economic growth” (Williams et al., 2018, p. 24).
This study will provide insight about if mindfulness is something that should be
implemented with teachers right from the beginning of their careers in order to maintain
their health and longevity in education.
This chapter will explain the methodology used for this study. The purpose of this
study will be explained in the first section followed by information about the setting of
the research along with the information about the participants. These sections will
provide information about the demographics of the education environment where the
study took place. After describing the setting and the participants, details about the
intervention and research plan will be described. This information will include the
specific dates and interventions in which teachers participated in during the eight-week
period of the intervention implementation.
After discussing the basic information about the demographics and the timeline,
this chapter will then describe the methods that were used during the study and details
about how the data was collected. The last section of this chapter will discuss the validity
of the study along with a summary.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to gain insight about what teachers perceived as
causes of stress in the workplace and how the implementation of mindfulness activities
would impact teacher perceived stress. This study also was designed to gather
information about if a teacher’s demographics had an impact on their perceived stress and
how the teacher perceived the implementation of mindfulness activities for their
classroom. The research questions that were developed based on this purpose were:
Question #1: What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived stress?
Question #2: What is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has affected their
stress level?
Question #3: Do the demographics of a teacher make a difference in their
perceived stress?
Question #4: What is the teacher’s perception of the impact mindfulness activities
would have on their classroom?
Settings and Participants
Setting
This study took place in the Purchase Line School District in rural Pennsylvania.
The district has one elementary school that serves students in grades Pre-K to 6 and one
junior/senior high school that serves student in grades 7 through 12. The district
encompasses about 145 square miles in Indiana and Clearfield counties. The district
includes the three townships of Bell, Green, and Montgomery. The district also includes
the five boroughs of Burnside, Glen Campbell, Mahaffey, Newburg, and New
Washington. Both schools are located along Route 286 in Commodore, Pennsylvania.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
The schools are separated by a field and are .4 miles away from each other. The
Purchase Line School District is split by the Harmony Area School District and the
Punxsutawney Area School district as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Purchase Line School District Map

Note. Purchase Line Jshs - School Boundaries Map (School Attendance Zone), by
Pennsylvania Gazetteer, 2023
(https://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/schools/profiles,n,purchase percent 20line
percent 20jshs,z,15729,t,pb,i,1099962.cfm). In the public domain.
The Purchase Line School District has a total enrollment of seven hundred and
eighty students in the 2022-2023 school year as shown in Table 1. Enrollment has
decreased from the 2021-2022 school year. In the 2021-2022 school year, the student
population was eight hundred and ten students. In the 2022-2023 school year, there are

48

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
388 students in grades pre-kindergarten to 6 and 392 in grades 7 to 12. In the 2021-2022
school year, the special education population was 22.9 percent, and 65 percent of students
were economically disadvantaged. In the 2022-2023 school year, both of those have
increased: 25 percent of the student population is special education and 74.4 percent of
the student population is economically disadvantaged. The district had revenues of
$20,780,321 in the 2021-2022 school year and expenditures of $18,611,518 with 18.8
percent funded by local funds, 70.2 percent by state funds, and 11 percent funded by
federal funds.
Table 1
Purchase Line School District Demographics
Current Student Population
Grade Level
Pre-K to 6th grade
7th to 12th grade

n
388
392

Student Race
White
Multi-Racial
Hispanic
Black or African America
American Indian/Alaskan Native

796
15
3
7
2

Gender
Male
Female

396
384

Subgroups
Economically Disadvantaged (74.4 percent ) 508
Special Education (25 percent )
195
504 Plan (37 percent )
29
Gifted –GIEP (1.5 percent )
12
Enrollment, the graduation rate, and the attendance rate have all been declining
while economically disadvantaged and special education have been on the rise. The

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
number of students who score advanced or proficient on state assessments has been
declining, and last year the Junior/Senior high school was in the bottom 15 percent of
schools in the state as measured by state exams.
During the last month of the study, the superintendent announced he would be
leaving the district. The district has experienced turnover in district leadership frequently
over the past few years. Each building has a principal. The Purchase Line Junior/Senior
High school principal was hired at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. The
district has a special education director, a business manager, a director of curriculum and
innovation, and a maintenance director. The district has contracted services for
technology and transportation.
Participants
The district employs sixty-eight teachers and all Pre-K to twelfth grade teachers
from both buildings in the district were given an opportunity to participate in the study.
On September 21, 2022, an email was sent with information about the study along with a
Google form link that included the informed consent for participants to complete if they
wanted to participate (Appendix A). On September 26, 2022, participants who
completed the informed consent received a follow up email which indicated the teachers
would pick their participant numbers for the study on October 10, 2022. Teachers chose
numbers on October 10, 2022, and were sent a follow up email on October 17, 2022, with
directions and the link to complete the Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey
(Pre) (Appendix B) and provided with the start and end dates of the eight-week
intervention. This email indicated that on Monday, October 24, 2022, each participant
would be sent a Google survey with a mindfulness activity located in the directions at the

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
top of the survey to complete. They were to complete the activity and then complete and
submit the survey (Appendix D). The email indicated to the participants that they would
receive three activities and surveys a week for the next eight weeks. After the
participants completed each survey, the researcher accessed the data. The researcher
gathered and analyzed this data each week. Twenty-one teachers participated in the
study. Forty-eight percent of the teachers who participated had more than 20 years of
experiences, ten percent had 16 to 20 years, ten percent had 11 to 15 years, twenty-eight
had 6 to 10 years, and four percent had 4 to 6 years of experience. Twenty participants
were female, and one was male. This data is show in Table 2.
Table 2
Teacher Demographics
percent

n

Years of Experience
0-3 years
0 percent
4-6 years
4.8 percent
7-10 years
28.6 percent
11-15 years
9.5 percent
16-20 years
9.5 percent
More than 20 years 47.6 percent

0
1
6
2
2
10

Gender
Male
Female

4.8 percent
95.2 percent

1
20

Grades Taught
Pre-K-6
7-12
Pre-K-12

66.6 percent
28.6 percent
4.8 percent

14
6
1

In this study one teacher works at both buildings in the district, fourteen teachers
work at the elementary building and six teachers work at the junior/senior high school.
Three of these teachers are special area teachers, including music and technology. Three

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
of the teachers are special education teachers. Three of the teachers are considered
specialists. Specialists included reading specialists and guidance. Twelve of the teachers
are classroom teachers.
On October 24, 2022, participants received the first mindfulness activity and
survey to complete. Beginning that week participants received three activities and
surveys a week with the last activity and survey being sent on December 16, 2022.
Participants entered their participant number each time they submitted a survey. Surveys
submitted could not be identified by name or email. There was an email sent on
December 16, 2022, informing the participants that the study was ending with a link to
compete the Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Post) (Appendix C). The
data was gathered from both the survey conducted at the beginning of the study and the
survey conducted at the end of the interventions along with the twenty-four daily surveys.
All the data was analyzed by the researcher.
Intervention and Research Plan
The literature review suggested leaders in the field of education must intervene to
provide tools to reduce stress to teachers. “Teachers leaving the profession before age of
retirement is an ongoing problem in schools worldwide. While fewer teachers enter the
profession each year, the number of teachers leaving the profession has increased” (Botha
& Hugo, 2021, p. 64). One of the reasons teachers are leaving the field is because of the
stress levels encountered on the job. “Teacher stress, or teacher exhaustion, syndrome has
been widely studied in different school contexts around the world” (Vázquez-Cano &
Holgueras-González, 2019, p. 23). The stress can make individuals not feel valued. “All
this makes teachers view their profession as being one that is far from satisfactory,

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adding to the list of professionals who are increasingly dissatisfied with
their jobs” (Vázquez-Cano & Holgueras-González, 2019, p. 23). Not only does stress
have an impact on their job satisfaction, but it also can impact their health. “In particular,
a coping pattern of excessive professional commitment and a resigned pattern, which is
characterized by lowered professional commitment and lowered coping capacity, are
thought to be associated with risks to health” (Adams et al, 2016, p. 138). The impact of
the stress on their health can lead to them leaving the profession early.
Given these health-related consequences of stress, it is not surprising that many
PE teachers contemplate leaving their jobs as PE teachers or actually leave the PE
teaching profession. This is a problem for the PE teachers as affected individuals
but also for the school system as a whole. (Lee et al., 2019, as cited in Pels et al.,
2022, p. 1)
One of the interventions studies in the literature review demonstrated had been
effective with different groups was mindfulness.
Mindfulness-based practices generally derive from ancient Buddhist meditations,
such as Vipassana and Zen meditations, and include psychological interventions
such as dialectical behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy,
brief mindfulness induction (e.g., a single or few short-term sessions that teach a
mindful approach to the present moment), and mindfulness-based stress reduction
(MBSR). Overall, it has been demonstrated that mindfulness-based practices can
lead to increased levels of self-reported mindfulness, enhanced psychological
functioning and well-being, improved emotion regulation and reduced anxiety and
depression in clinical populations. Moreover, the literature indicates that

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mindfulness interventions can ameliorate self-regulation], reduce rumination, and
facilitate emotional control in healthy adults. (di Fronso et al., 2022, p. 1)
The literature review indicated many different mindfulness practices that can be
utilized to help individuals reduce stress. “When considering the numerous mindfulnessbased and mindfulness-informed programs that have flourished in the past decades it is
not always clear that they all refer to the same mindfulness” (Levit-Binnun et al., 2021,
p.1). In order to determine what mindfulness practices would be effective in the Purchase
Line School District, the study was designed to use a variety of mindfulness activities.
The activities included sensory activities using taste and sight, meditation, breathing,
awareness of the body, and guided imagery (Appendix E). An example of one activity
teachers participated in was tracing the number 8 on their palm slowly while breathing in
as they traced it the first time and breathing out as they traced it the second time. They
repeated this technique for one minute.
The study was designed to determine the specific practices that are effective in
reducing the teacher’s perceived stress in this rural school district in Pennsylvania.
Rodrigues de Oliveira et al. (2021) states,
Thus, providing resources that, through stress reduction and emotional selfregulation, may enhance teachers’ personal sense of self and ability to adapt
successfully to stressful life events to which teachers are exposed (personal and
family drama, violence within and outside school boundaries, defiance from
students, among others) is essential. (p. 2)
The information in the literature review about teachers leaving the profession,
increased stress, and the impact mindfulness has had on other groups led the researcher to

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focus on the causes of teachers’ perceived stress and the impact mindfulness activities
can have on teacher perceived stress in the Purchase Line School District with K-12
teachers.
The information in the study can provide information about the impact of
mindfulness activities on teacher perceived stress and also their comfort level with
implementing mindfulness in the classroom. A future study could analyze the impact
mindfulness has on students in the classrooms in the Purchase Line School District.
Stress continues to be a major threat to health and learning outcomes for
adolescents. According to a recent study conducted by the American
Psychological Association (APA), adolescents experience stress at levels
comparable to adults, yet report having minimal healthy coping strategies.
(American Psychological Association, 2014, as cited in Erbe & Lohrmann, 2015,
p. 1)
In order for district leaders to provide support to their teaching staff, research
must be completed about what the causes of teacher perceived stress are and what
supports are beneficial to reduce those stressors that teachers are perceiving as the cause
of their stress. The literature review has shown there are many causes of teacher stress.
“ECTs’ (Early Childhood Teachers) occupational health and safety can be further
compromised by hazards in the workplace, the physical and emotional intensity involved
in teaching young children, and children’s challenging behaviours” (Logan et al. 2020, as
cited in Fenech et al., 2021, p. 7). More research is needed in order for school leaders to
address this stress.

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The challenges associated with the profession, such as administrative burdens,
classroom management difficulties and lack of autonomy, contribute greatly to
teachers’ stress. Moreover, teachers encounter significant social and political
scrutiny coupled with high levels of accountability as they perform their jobs. In
our contemporary society, teachers strive for performance while trying to
maintain a work-life balance, which leads to an insidious increase in stress. As an
issue concerning both policy and practice, teacher stress has been treated as
mundane and little attention is therefore devoted to it. (Kavenuke et al., 2022, p.
61)
This research will gather information about the perceived stressors for the
teachers in the Purchase Line School District. In addition to gathering information about
stressors, teacher perceived stress, knowledge and comfort level with mindfulness. The
data gathered about the daily mindfulness activities will include if the teacher completed
the mindfulness activity that day or if they did not complete the activity. The data
gathered about completing the activity will be used in the data analysis to ensure the data
is reliable and the implementation of mindfulness activities were actually completed and
utilized by the participants.
The research plan for this study includes the collection of quantitative and
qualitative data through the use of surveys. The researcher had a discussion with the
administrative team about this study to gain input and insight from the team before
meeting with the superintendent. The researcher then met with the superintendent and
was granted permission to conduct the study and collect data using a pre and post survey
along with three mindfulness activities and surveys each week for eight weeks.

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The Institutional Review Board of Pennsylvania Western University sent an email
to the researcher on September 21, 2022 with the IRB approval letter attached (Appendix
F).
After receiving approval, the researcher sent communication to all teachers in the
district. After participants volunteered to participate in the study and completed the
informed consent, they were sent a link with the Teacher Perceived Stress and
Mindfulness Survey (Pre) on October 17, 2022 (Appendix B). This survey gathered
demographic information, their job satisfaction, their knowledge of mindfulness, and
their perceived stressors. On October 24, 2022, teachers received an email with a link to
a Google form which contained a mindfulness activity in the directions (Appendix E) and
a survey (Appendix D) for them to complete. Each week beginning on October 24,
teachers received three of these emails. The last one was sent on December 16, 2022.
These surveys gathered information about participation in the daily mindfulness
activities, teacher’s stress level before the activity, teachers’ stress level after the activity,
if the teacher would recommend the activity, if the teacher would participate in the
activity again, if the teacher perceived the mindfulness activity was beneficial in reducing
stress, and if they would implement it in their classroom. On December 16, 2022,
teachers also received an email with a link to the Teacher Perceived Stress and
Mindfulness Survey (Post) (Appendix C). This survey collected information about
teachers’ job satisfaction, the impact teachers perceived that mindfulness activities had on
their overall stress level, the impact teachers believed the activities would have in their
classroom, the teachers’ comfort level with implementing the activity in the classroom,
the teachers’ knowledge of mindfulness, the teachers’ perceived stressors, and the

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
teachers’ thoughts on beneficial supports to help them handle work-related stress.
Throughout the study the researcher gathered the data from the Daily Mindfulness
surveys in order to determine their impact on teacher perceived stress and participation in
the activity. At the end of the study the researcher collected the data from the post survey
and then compared the data to the data gathered from the pre survey. All information was
gathered, complied, and analyzed.
Fiscal implications in this study were minimal. There were no direct costs to the
researcher or the participants involved. The Purchase Line School District provides
devices to teachers along with Google products. Teachers were able to access the Google
forms using their school devices to submit the surveys. The mindfulness activities used
were of no cost and teachers were able to participate in these activities without the need
for additional resources. They accessed the activities through the Daily Mindfulness
Activity Survey. Mindfulness activities were listed at the top of the survey. The
participants spent three to five minutes on each daily mindfulness activity and survey and
ten to fifteen minutes on each of the pre and post surveys. The researcher communicated
with the participants by email that was provided by the district. All surveys were
designed using Google forms and links sent using district provided email. The costs of
this survey for the participants were the time it took for teachers to participate in the
mindfulness activities and complete the surveys. The other cost was the time of the
researcher to complete the study.
Research Design, Methods and Data Collection
This action research will utilize a mixed methods approach including teacher
surveys and participation data. The data collected contained both quantitative and

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
qualitative data that was analyzed. Participants completed multiple surveys which
included multiple choice questions, Likert scale questions, and an open-ended question.
Quantitative data was gathered from the surveys indicating the teachers’ levels of stress
prior to the mindfulness activity and after the activity. Qualitative data was gathered on
the post survey from the open-ended question asking what supports could be put in place
to reduced teachers’ perceived stress.
The researcher received IRB approval to begin the study on September 20, 2022
(Appendix F). After receiving approval, the researcher had participants in the study fill
out and submit their informed consent. After receiving the informed consent, the
volunteers were then sent the Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Pre)
(Appendix B) to fill out and submit on October 17, 2022. This survey collected
information on the teachers’ years of experience teaching, the grade level or levels
taught, the teachers’ gender, the teachers’ knowledge of mindfulness, and the teachers’
perceived stressors. The participants used a Likert scale to complete the perceived
stressors to indicate how often they experience each stressor listed on a scale from 1-5
with 1 being never and 5 being very often. After completing the pre survey, the
participants then completed Daily Mindfulness activities (Appendix E) and surveys
(Appendix D) three times a week beginning October 24, 2022, and ending December 16,
2022.
After the eight-week intervention, participants completed the Teacher Perceived
Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Post) (Appendix C) on December 16, 2022. All the
surveys were distributed and collected electronically using Google forms and then
exported to Google sheets to analyze the data.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
The researcher gathered and analyzed information from all the surveys to answer
these research questions.
Research Question 1. What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived
stress?
Research Question 2. What is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has
affected their stress level?
Research Question 3. Do the demographics of a teacher make a difference in their
perceived stress?
Research Question 4. What is the teacher’s perception of the impact mindfulness
activities would have on their classroom?
The timeline below shows the timeline that was proposed by the researcher for the
study to answer the research questions.
September- October 2022


IRB Approval Received- September 21, 2022 (Appendix F);



Initial email sent to all teachers in the Purchase Line School District with link
to informed consent (Appendix A);



Informed Consents gathered;



Random numbers drawn by the teachers on October 10 th to use as their
participant number in order to submit surveys anonymously;



Email sent with link to Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey
(Pre) on October 17, 2022 (Appendix B);



Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Pre) data collected and
analyzed;

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS


8-week implementation of mindfulness activities, first activity (Appendix E)
and survey (Appendix D) sent on October 24, 2022;



Daily Mindfulness activity surveys (Appendix D) collected three times a week
and data analyzed.

November 2022- December 2022


Continuation of the 8-week implementation of mindfulness activities, last
activity (Appendix E) and survey (Appendix D) sent on December 16, 2022;



Daily Mindfulness activity surveys (Appendix D) collected three times a week
and data analyzed;



Email sent with link to Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey
(Post) on December 16, 2022 (Appendix C);



Teacher Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Post) data collected and
analyzed (Appendix C);



All data collected and analyzed including participation throughout the study.
Validity

To ensure validity of this action research the researcher took multiple steps during
the study. After participants completed the informed consent, they chose a random
number that they then used to submit and complete each survey. This ensured no names
or emails were connected to the survey data. This coding minimized the possibility of the
researcher being able to identify the participant’s individual answers to the surveys.
The surveys that were used were reviewed to ensure the questions did not contain
bias and would not lead the participants to particular answers. The questions used in the
survey were created based on the guiding questions. These questions were developed in

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
order to gain information about teacher demographics and their impact on teacher
perceived stress along with the perceived stressors. The questions were also developed to
gather information about the impact of mindfulness activities on teacher perceived stress.
These questions were developed in response to the literature review.
Throughout the study Google Forms were used. Participants were sent emails as
communication and emails were sent using blind carbon copy to ensure participants were
unable to identify the other participants in the study. The data collected using Google
Forms was then directly exported to a Google Sheet. The data being directly exported in
the Google Sheet was unaltered by the researcher.
A prolonged period of eight-weeks was used for the implementation of the study
in order to ensure validity. Pre and post surveys were used, but there were also three
surveys each week for eight weeks which gave regular data over the entire period of the
study.
All teachers in the Purchase Line School District were offered the opportunity to
participate in this study. There were 21 teachers who participated and filled out the
informed consent. Demographic information was collected about these teachers and the
participants included teachers from a variety of grade levels and positions, which is a
factor to include in the validity. The teachers also included a variety of teachers with
different years of experiences and knowledge about mindfulness prior to the study.
Another factor impacting validity is that there were different types of questions
asked. Types of questions asked included multiple choice, Likert scale and open ended.
Using different types of questions along with the use of multiple surveys allowed for an

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
analysis of data from multiple data sources. In addition, the eight-week period allowed
for a thorough analysis of the different types of data over the eight-week time period.
This data was able to be triangulated by comparing the pre and post surveys to
determine the participants view of the impact of the mindfulness activities. The daily
surveys are able to be triangulated. There were 24 daily surveys sent for participants to
complete. The data from all 24 surveys was collected and each analyzed to determine the
participation in the activities along with the impact of individual mindfulness activities on
teacher perceived stress.
The researcher works closely with all teachers in the district. In order to ensure
participants were comfortable and would not be biased with the information submitted
the survey data was not connected to the teacher by name or email; instead, it was
collected by a random number that was drawn by the teacher. An administrative assistant
oversaw the drawing of numbers. Therefore, the risk of identification by the researcher
was minimized. This action research was conducted while the researcher was a student at
Pennsylvania Western University under the supervision of an internal member of
Pennsylvania Western University and an external member who reviewed all surveys for
bias and provided feedback and guidance. The internal member was Dr. Todd Keruskin
and the external member was Dr. Erich May who is the superintendent of the Brookville
Area School District.
The researcher had very little knowledge of mindfulness practices prior to the
study and therefore was not biased as to whether the practices would be beneficial or not
in reducing teacher perceived stress.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
One of the limitations to this study was that it was voluntary. The opportunity was
offered to all teachers in the district, but only 21 out of the 68 teachers participated. The
percentage of participants may have an impact on the accuracy of the results of the action
research. Another limitation is that only one of the participants was male. The lack of
balance between genders could lead to limited information on the impact of mindfulness
activities on male teachers perceived stress. The goal is that data can be shared with
district administration to provide proven activities and supports can be used to reduce
teacher perceived stress in order to retain teachers in the profession. If we are able to
reduce teacher stress, then a more positive learning environment will develop for
students.
Summary
This chapter described the purpose of the research, along with the setting in which
the action research took place. It also provided information about participants with the
research plan while describing the methods that were used to design the research and
collect the data. These methods were described along with the timeline in which the
study took place. The fiscal implications and the validity of the research were discussed
and in order to thoroughly analyze the data and provide recommendations an
understanding of the methodology used in gathering data must be understood. The
methodology used for this action research was designed in order to answer the guiding
research questions stated in this chapter.
The next chapter will include the results of the multiple data sources and provide
the quantitative and qualitative data results in regards to the guiding research questions
that can be used to provide the district with feedback on stressors and the impact of

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
mindfulness activities on teacher perceived stress. The explanation of how the data was
analyzed in order to answer each question will be provided along with identifying the
pieces of data taken from each survey to address each question. These results will be
used to then help plan the direction in which the district will move in regard to the
implementation of mindfulness for all staff and students in the district.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
CHAPTER IV
Data Analysis and Results
How do we support teachers’ physical and mental health? Can mindfulness help
to reduce teacher stress? Are there specific mindfulness activities that are preferred and
recommended? Finding a way to support staff and reduce stress is something that
administrators reflects upon when making decisions for organizations.
Teacher perceived stress is causing teachers to burn out and leave the profession early.
Paired with individuals not entering the profession, this has led to concerns about being
able to fill positions with individuals who are qualified for the position.
During this study, 21 practicing teachers in the Purchase Line School District
volunteered to participate to determine if mindfulness activities would be beneficial in
reducing their perceived stress. These teachers volunteered to participate in mindfulness
activities three times a week for eight weeks.
Chapter IV will present the data and an analysis of the data that was gathered
from the survey that teachers completed prior to participating in the mindfulness
activities along with the daily mindfulness activity surveys and the post survey that
teachers completed at the end of the eight weeks. Both qualitative and quantitative data
was gathered and analyzed. This data provides information as to whether mindfulness
activities have an impact on teacher perceived stress and, if so, what activities are the
teachers most likely to utilize again in the future. The data also indicates if the teachers
would be likely to use the activities in their classrooms along with information about the
perceived causes of teacher stress and if the teachers’ demographics affected their stress
level. The results of this study provided valuable information about how administrators

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
can help implement supports for teachers and students to ensure that the optimal
environment is established in their buildings and district.
Data Analysis
In this eight-week period teachers submitted surveys that were designed to answer
the four research questions that were shared in previous chapters. There was a pre survey,
a post survey, and twenty-four daily mindfulness activity surveys. These questions
contained multiple choice, Likert scale, and an open-ended question. The four questions
addressed were:
Research Question 1. What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived
stress?
Research Question 2. What is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has
affected their stress level?
Research Question 3. Do the demographics of a teacher make a difference in their
perceived stress?
Research Question 4. What is the teacher’s perception of the impact mindfulness
activities would have on their classroom?
Data was gathered from the pre and post survey completed by the teachers to
address question one. This data was then analyzed to determine what the perceived
causes were of the teachers’ stress and if that perception changed from the beginning of
the eight-week implementation of mindfulness activities to the end of the eight weeks.
Question two was addressed by both the pre and post surveys along with the 24
daily mindfulness surveys that teachers completed. This data was analyzed to determine
if the teachers perceived that the activities had an effect on their overall stress level along

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
with what activities had the highest and lowest perceived effect. The data of the
participants who completed all 24 mindfulness activities was compared to the perceived
stress levels of the participants who did not participate in all 24 mindfulness activities.
The pre and post survey along with the daily mindfulness surveys were used to address
research questions three and four.
Results
Research Question #1
The first research question was “What are the perceived causes of teacher’s
perceived stress?” A thematic analysis was used to identify the patterns in the perceive
stressors, self-care, and the perceived stress levels prior to the study and after the
completion of the 24 activities. A survey was given prior to the implementation of
mindfulness activities in October 2022 and a post survey completed in December of
2022. Twenty-four surveys, three each week, were completed over the course of eight
weeks.
The invitation to participate and teacher consent form were sent to all 69 teachers
who were employed by the Purchase Line School District in both the elementary and
junior/senior high school buildings. The teacher consent form was returned by 21
teachers who volunteered to participate in the study. This is 30 percent of the teachers
employed by the Purchase Line School District. The initial survey was sent to all 21
participants who volunteered to participate in the study and all 21 teachers that
volunteered completed and returned the survey. The post survey was sent at the end of
the eight weeks, and 20 teachers completed the post survey. The information is shown in
Table 3.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Table 3
Pre and Post Teacher Demographics
Pre
Percent of
Participants

Post
Number of
Teachers
(n=21)

Percent of
Participants

Number of
Teachers
(n=20)

Years of Experience
0-3 years
0 percent
4-6 years
4.8 percent
7-10 years
28.6 percent
11-15 years
9.5 percent
16-20 years
9.5 percent
More than 20
47.6 percent

0
1
6
2
2
10

0 percent
5 percent
25 percent
10 percent
10 percent
50 percent

0
1
5
2
2
10

Gender
Male
Female

4.8 percent
95.2 percent

1
20

5 percent
95 percent

1
19

Grades Taught
Pre-K-6
7-12
Pre-K-12

66.6 percent
28.6 percent
4.8 percent

14
6
1

70 percent
25 percent
5 percent

14
5
1

All 21 participants completed the pre survey and 20 teachers completed the post
survey. One male and 20 females completed the pre survey and one male and 19 females
completed the post survey. The one individual who did not complete the post survey
teaches grades 7-12 in the junior/senior high school. Six teachers who teach grades 7-12
in the junior/senior high school completed the pre survey, but five completed the post
survey. The teacher who did not complete the survey also has been teaching 7-10 years.
Six teachers who have been teaching 7-10 years completed the pre survey, and five
teachers with 7-10 years of experience completed the post survey.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Through eight weeks the teachers participated in three mindfulness activities each
week and submitted a survey after each activity. The data showing the percentage and
number of activities completed is shown in Table 4.
Table 4
Daily Mindfulness Survey Demographics
Percent of
Completion

Number of Activities

Years of Experience
4-6 years
100 percent
7-10 years
83 percent
11-15 years
100 percent
16-20 years
100 percent
More than 20
92 percent

24
119
48
48
221

Gender
Male
Female

100 percent
91 percent

24
436

Grades Taught
Pre-K-6
7-12
Pre-K-12

95 percent
82 percent
100 percent

318
118
24

The participants with 4-6 years, 11-15 years, and 16-20 years participated in all
24 of the mindfulness activities and surveys. The participants with more than 20 years
participated in 92 percent of the activities and surveys. The teachers with 7-10 years had
the lowest participation rate of 83 percent over the course of the eight weeks. The male
completed all 24 activities, and the females completed 91 percent of the activities. The
teacher who teaches at both buildings participated in all the activities and surveys. The
elementary teachers had a higher participation rate than the teachers who teach only at the
junior/senior high school.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Teachers rated stressors that they encounter while on the job on the pre and post
survey. The teachers rated stressors that were in the categories mentioned in the literature
review that previous research have found as sources of stress in education. This data is
shown below in Table 5.
Table 5
Stressor Averages
Averages
Students
I have difficulty controlling my class
I become impatient when students do not do what is asked.
My students make my job stressful.

Pre

Post Difference

2.24 1.95
2.95 2.70
3.05 2.85

-.29
-.25
-.20

Support
My administration make demands I cannot meet.
I feel like I cannot be myself with administration.
I feel isolated at work.
I feel like my colleagues do not think I am doing a good job.
I get little support from other teachers.
I have difficulty in my working relationship with
administration.

2.65
2.40
2.48
2.14
2.05
1.85

2.50
2.20
1.86
1.71
1.67
1.90

-.15
-.20
-.62
-.43
-.38
.05

Parents
Parents of my students are a source of concern for me.
I feel like my students’ parents think I am not doing a
satisfactory job.

3.00 2.62
2.33 1.95

-.38
-.38

3.86
3.62
2.76
2.43

-.38
-.38
-.06
-.29

Time
I have too much to do and not enough time to complete tasks.
I have to take work home.
I am unable to keep up with giving feedback to students.
I have difficulty organizing tasks.

3.48
3.24
2.67
2.14

Note. Pre survey results based on 21 participant responses. Post survey results based on
20 participant responses.
Rating 1-5. 1=Never and 5=Very Often.

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Each participant’s response was added together and then divided by the number of
participants who responded to the question to find the average. The data shows the
perceived stressor that caused the most stress was the lack of time. The students and
parents were the second and third largest contributors with administration being the
smallest contributor to their stress. The participants indicated that students make their job
stressful and that they often cannot complete tasks and have to take work home.
The response that showed the largest decrease was .62, which was feeling isolated
at work. The participant’s average response to having difficulty working with
administration actually increased by .05 from the beginning of the survey to the end of
the eight weeks. Every other response decreased from the pre survey to the post survey.
The decrease in not having enough time to complete tasks and taking work home were
both a decrease of .38 from the beginning to the end.
In the literature review, one of the stressors that was found by other researchers
was that teachers felt there was never enough time to get everything completed that they
were expected to complete while still providing the highest level of instruction to the
students. The data from this survey correlated to the researched discussed in the
literature review and showed that the largest perceived causes of teacher perceived stress
was not having enough time to complete tasks.
There was a decrease from the pre survey to the post survey, but in both surveys,
time was rated the highest perceived stressor for teachers. This is something that the
district needs to be mindful of when planning for the future and finding ways to help
streamline processes and demands that are put onto the teachers each year. Finding ways
to help teachers feel like they do not have enough time can help reduce teacher burnout.

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Research Question #2
Data was collected from the post survey about the teachers’ overall perception on
the perceived effect that the mindfulness activities had on their stress to address the
question, what is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has affected their stress level?
Participants were asked, “What impact did mindfulness activities have on your overall
stress level?” The data was gathered and then disassembled into groups of participants
that completed all of the activities and participants that completed some of the activities
to provide a comparison of the two groups and their perception of the impact that the
mindfulness activities had on their perceived stress. The data gathered from the post
survey is shown in Table 6.
Table 6
Impact of Mindfulness Activities on Stress
Five of the twenty participants who completed the post survey, which is 25
percent of the participants, indicated that they did not believe that the mindfulness
activities had an impact on their overall stress level. Sixty percent of participants thought
that the mindfulness activities had some impact on their stress level, and 15 percent said
that the mindfulness activities had a lot of impact on their stress levels.
In addition, data from the pre survey to data from the post survey about the
overall perceived impact of mindfulness activities on their perceived stress data was also
gathered and compiled from the 24 daily mindfulness surveys to determine the teacher
perception of the impact of the activity on their perceived stress for each activity. The
perceived stress teachers felt prior to the activity and the perceived stress that teachers
felt after the activity was collected in the daily mindfulness surveys. This data was then

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
compiled and analyzed. The level of stress that teachers felt prior to the activity was
added together and then divided by the number of teachers who competed the activity to
get the average stress level prior to the activity. This process was then repeated to find the
average stress level after completing the activity. This data is shown in Table 7. The
activities are listed in Appendix E.
Table 7
Daily Mindfulness Activity Stress

Activity #1
Activity #2
Activity #3
Activity #4
Activity #5
Activity #6
Activity #7
Activity #8
Activity #9
Activity #10
Activity #11
Activity #12
Activity #13
Activity #14
Activity #15
Activity #16
Activity #17
Activity #18
Activity #19
Activity #20
Activity #21
Activity #22
Activity #23
Activity #24

Pre
3.35
3.00
2.70
3.00
2.95
2.95
2.89
2.75
2.67
2.68
2.62
2.50
2.80
2.58
2.61
2.89
2.50
2.67
2.58
2.76
2.68
2.94
2.69
2.53

Post
2.85
2.38
2.15
2.21
2.74
2.05
2.21
2.20
2.17
1.89
2.33
2.28
2.40
2.10
2.22
2.21
1.85
2.28
1.95
2.38
2.32
2.47
2.50
2.11

Difference
-0.50
-0.62
-0.55
-0.79
-0.21
-0.90
-0.68
-0.55
-0.50
-0.79
-0.29
-0.22
-0.40
-0.48
-0.39
-0.68
-0.65
-0.39
-0.63
-0.38
-0.36
-0.47
-0.19
-0.42

74

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Note. 1=No Stress, 2= Small Amount of stress, 3=Moderate amount of stress, 4=Stress
that is causing a physical symptom such as irritability, high blood pressure, etc. 5=Stress
to the point I cannot function.
The three mindfulness activities that showed the largest decrease in stress were
activities six, four, and ten. Participants were asked to listen to a piece of music for two
minutes and focus only on that music for activity six. This activity showed a decrease of
.90 from the average prior stress level to the average post stress level. Both activities four
and ten showed a decrease of .79 from the prior perceived stress to the post perceived
stress. In both of these activities, participants practiced mindful breathing meditation.
By comparison activities five, twelve, and 23 showed the smallest decrease in the
average perceived stress. Activity twenty-three showed the smallest decrease, which was
.19. Participants completed ten jumping jacks concentrating on the movements during
the exercise. Activity five was the next lowest with a decrease of .21. This activity
included eating mindfully. To round out the bottom three, activity twelve showed a
decrease of .22 from the prior perceived stress level to the post perceived stress level.
Participants were asked to walk on two surfaces for activity twelve focusing on their feet
touching the ground. The average decrease per activity was found by adding the
perceived stress levels prior and subtracting that from the sum of the post perceived stress
levels. That number was then divided by 24 since there were 24 activities. The average
decrease in stress for each activity was .50. Some activities had a higher decrease in
stress levels than others, but every activity demonstrated an overall decrease in perceived
stress.

75

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
The number of participants who completed the daily mindfulness activities varied
throughout the study. Table 8 shows the number of participants for each activity.
Table 8
Number of Participants for Each Activity
Number of Participants
Activity #1
Activity #2
Activity #3
Activity #4
Activity #5
Activity #6
Activity #7
Activity #8
Activity #9
Activity #10
Activity #11
Activity #12

20
21
20
19
19
21
19
20
18
19
21
18

Activity #13
Activity #14
Activity #15
Activity #16
Activity #17
Activity #18
Activity #19
Activity #20
Activity #21
Activity #22
Activity #23
Activity #24

20
19
18
19
20
18
19
21
19
17
16
19

There was an average participation rate of 91 percent over the eight-week
implementation period. There were four activities that all 21 participants completed.
These activities were number two, number six, number 11, and number 20. Participants
traced the number eight on their palm for one minute while breathing in and out for
activity two. Activity six was where the participants listened to music for two minutes:
this is the activity that also showed the largest decrease in the perceived prior stress and
the post perceived stress. Participants helped someone and concentrated on how that
made them feel for activity 11, and activity 20 had participants say something kind to
someone and concentrate on how it made them feel.
The activity with the lowest participants was activity 23, which was doing
jumping jacks and concentrating on the movement. Sixteen of the twenty-one

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
participants completed the activity. The next to lowest participation rate was for activity
22, which was completing five finger breathing for two minutes.
Participants perceived effect of the mindfulness activities on their stress varied.
This is shown in Table 9.
Table 9
Stress Reduction Each Activity
Do you think this activity is beneficial in helping to reduce stress? Responses
No
Yes
Yes
No
Activity #1
8
12
Activity #13
12
8
Activity #2
8
13
Activity #14
13
6
Activity #3
3
17
Activity #15
10
8
Activity #4
1
18
Activity #16
14
5
Activity #5
13
6
Activity #17
19
1
Activity #6
1
20
Activity #18
11
7
Activity #7
4
15
Activity #19
15
4
Activity #8
2
18
Activity #20
13
8
Activity #9
3
15
Activity #21
6
13
Activity #10
0
19
Activity #22
12
5
Activity #11
11
10
Activity #23
5
11
Activity #12
12
6
Activity #24
11
8
Note. Question asked. “Do you think this activity is beneficial in helping to reduce
stress?”
Activity ten, mindfully breathing, was the only activity that every participant
believed helped to reduce their perceived stress. The largest number of participants felt
that activity six, listening to music, reduced their perceived stress, while activity five,
eating mindfully, and activity twenty-one, drinking mindfully, had the most participants
that believed the activity did not reduce their perceived stress.
The participant’s response for each activity varied, and overall, five participants
indicated that they believed the mindfulness activities had no impact on their perceived

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
stress. However, twelve participants believed they had some impact, and three
participants believed that they had a lot of impact. The activities that participants believed
help reduced their stress were also the activities that showed the largest decreases in their
rating of their pre-stress levels in comparison to their post stress levels.
The triangulation of all of this data has shown that the activities that would be
beneficial in reducing stress in the workplace would be mindfully breathing with
meditation and the use of music. Gathering the data from various sources and the use of
using different questions to gather the same data ensures the validity of this data.
Research Question #3
The data was gathered and analyzed for question one and two using all the
participants as one group. To address question three, about the demographics of teachers
and their perceived stress, the data was then disassembled and reassembled into groups.
The groups that were used to analyze the data were the gender of the participants, the
years of experience, and the grade levels or building that the teachers teach. The group as
a whole showed an overall decrease in their perceived stress and also a decrease in their
perceived stress for each activity. The data in Table 10 shows the average stress prior to
the activity and after the activity broken down by demographics.
Table 10
Demographic Daily Mindfulness Average Activity Stress
Pre

Post

Difference

Gender
Male
Female

2.58
2.75

2.06
2.25

-.52
-.49

Years of Experience
4-6

3.00

2.42

-.58

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
7-10
11-15
16-20
More than 20
Grades Taught
Elementary
Jr/Sr High School
All Grades

2.89
3.04
2.50
2.68

2.46
2.22
2.33
2.14

-.43
-.82
-.17
-.54

2.79
2.53
3.67

2.29
2.04
2.92

-.50
-.49
-.51

Note. 1=No Stress, 2= Small Amount of stress, 3=Moderate amount of stress, 4=Stress
that is causing a physical symptom such as irritability, high blood pressure, etc. 5=Stress
to the point I cannot function.
Gender, the buildings and the grade levels taught did not have a large difference
in regards to the impact that mindfulness activities had on perceived stress. Both genders
and teachers from all grade levels showed about the same as far as the decrease in the
amount of perceived stress from the beginning of the study to the end. The difference
between the one male and the average female decrease in stress was .03 and the
difference between the elementary teachers and the high school teachers was .01. The one
teacher that teaches all grades was .01 different from the elementary and .02 different
from the Jr/Sr High School teachers.
In comparison to gender and grade levels taught, the years of experience showed a
larger discrepancy. Two teachers with 16-20 years of experience who showed the
smallest decrease of stress at .17, while there were two teachers with 11-15 years of
experience and their decrease in stress was the largest at .82. That is a difference of .65
between the largest reported decrease of stress and the smallest decrease when broken
down by years of experience. The group with the most participants had more than twenty

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
years of experience and showed a decrease of .54, which is close to the overall average
decrease of .50.
The participants also indicated on each daily mindfulness activity if they believed
the activity helped to reduce their stress that day. The male in the study reported that 50
percent of the activities helped to reduce stress while the females indicated that 76
percent of the daily mindfulness activities helped to reduce their stress. Even though the
reported difference between their stress prior to the activity and after the activity was
similar the majority of females felt that the activities helped to reduce their stress as
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Gender

Female

Male

104
12

12
332
No

Yes

No

Yes

The gender of the participants did show a difference in the number of activities
they felt were helpful in reducing stress, so then the data was analyzed looking at the
numbers of experience. When the data was broken down into years of experience the
teacher that had 4-6 years of experience felt that 92 percent of the activities helped in
reducing stress while the teachers with 7-10 years of experiences reported that 65 percent
of the activities helped in reducing stress. Teachers with 11-15 years of experience

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
reported that 83 percent were effective in reducing stress, teachers with 16-20 years of
experience reported that 50 percent helped in reducing stress and the teachers with more
than 20 years of experiences reported that 67 percent of the activities were helpful in
reducing their stress levels from before the activity and after completing the activity.
All of the groups found more than half of the activities effective, while the teacher
with 4-6 years of experience found the most activities effective and the teachers with 1620 years of experience found the fewest number of activities effective in reducing stress.
There was a large difference between the two groups: there was a difference of 42
percent. Teaching experiences did indicate a difference in the activities that they reported
as effective in reducing stress as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3
Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Years of Experience

4-6 Years of
Experience
2

8

22
No

7-10 Years of
Experience

11-15 Years of
Experience

42
77

40

Yes

No

16-20 Years of
Experience
24

Yes

No

Yes

More than 20
Years of
Expereinces

24

74
147

No

Yes

No

Yes

The teachers who teach at the elementary school showed a 71 percent response in
favor of the activities reducing their stress, the jr/sr high school teachers provided that 61

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
percent of the activities helped to reduce stress, and the one teacher who is a teacher
shared between both buildings responded that 50 percent helped to reduce stress. There
was a 10 percent difference between the teachers who taught at the elementary building
versus the teachers who taught at the jr/sr high school. The difference between the
elementary teachers and the teacher who taught at both buildings was 21 percent and the
difference between the teacher who taught at both and the jr/sr high school teachers was
11 percent. There were fourteen elementary teachers that were included in these
responses, six jr/sr high school teachers, and one teacher that teaches at both buildings.
The data is displayed in Figure 4.
All teachers who participated in the eight-week implementation of mindfulness
activities were white. Therefore, the data was not analyzed to see if race had an impact
on the effect of mindfulness activities on teacher perceived stress.
Figure 4
Daily Activity Reduce Stress Responses-Grades Taught

In addition to breaking the daily mindfulness survey data into groups by
demographics; the post survey data that was gathered was also disassembled and
reassembled into the different demographic groups based on their responses to the
question, “What impact did mindfulness activities have on your overall stress level?” The
responses are in Table 11.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Table 11
Demographic Impact of Mindfulness Activities on Stress
Number of Responses
Gender
Male
Female

No Impact

Some Impact

A Lot of Impact

0
5

1
11

0
3

Year of Experience
4-6
7-10
11-15
16-20
More than 20

0
2
0
1
2

1
3
1
1
6

0
0
1
0
2

Grades Taught
Elementary
Jr/Sr High School
All Grades

4
1
0

8
4
0

2
0
1

The one male who participated in the study reported that the activities had some
impact while five of the females believed there was no impact, eleven believed there was
some impact and three believe there was a lot of impact. The data broken down into
years of experiences was similar between the groups. When analyzing the data from the
viewpoint of the grade levels taught the elementary teachers had two teachers who
believed the activities had a lot of impact and the jr/sr high school had zero teachers who
believed the activities had a lot of impact. The teacher who teaches all grades believed
the activities had a lot of impact.
The data gathered from the post survey about the impact of mindfulness activities
on teacher perceived stress did not have large discrepancies when broken down into
demographic groupings.
Research Question #4

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
To address question four, what is the teacher’s perception of the impact
mindfulness activities would have on students in their classroom, data was gathered from
each daily mindfulness activity survey along with data from the post survey that teachers
completed at the end of the eight weeks. Teachers answered if they would use each
activity that was completed in their classroom, if they perceived that the activities would
have an impact on the class, and if they would be comfortable implementing mindfulness
activities in the classroom. The data is displayed in Figure 5.
Figure 5
Daily Activity Use in Classroom

D A I LY A CT I VI T Y US E I N T H E C L A S SRO OM
4

5
11 11

11

15

20

10

9

2

3

4

5

8

4

3

1
5

6

7

7

17 14 16

15

15

1

6

8

4
9

3

11

12

8

14

5

10

8

9
14

6
11

17

3

6

Yes

9

12
20

9
5

No

13
8

10

10

5
1

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The data shows that 20 out of the 21 teachers would use activity six, listening to
music, and activity 20, saying something kind and reflecting on how it made them feel,
with the students in the classroom. By contrast, activity one, introduction to mindfulness,
and activity five, eating mindfully, had the least number of teachers respond that they
would use that activity in their classroom. Overall 62 percent would use the activities in
the classroom. The teachers were also asked if they would be comfortable implementing
mindfulness activities in their classroom. The data is displayed in Table 12.

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Table 12
Comfort in Implementing in the Classroom
Number of Responses
All Participants
Completed all Activities
Completed Some
Gender
Male
Female

Not Comfortable at All
1
1
0

Somewhat Comfortable
13
6
7

Comfortable
6
4
2

1
0

0
13

0
6

Year of Experience
4-6
7-10
11-15
16-20
More than 20

0
0
0
0
1

1
4
1
1
6

0
1
1
1
3

Grades Taught
Elementary
Jr/Sr High School
All Grades

0
1
0

10
3
0

4
1
1

The data showed that out of the 20 teachers who responded only one was not
comfortable at all; six were comfortable. The one teacher who was not comfortable was
a male with over 20 years of experience. Four of the teachers who were comfortable
completed all the activities, and two completed some of the activities. The years of
experience did not impact the responses of comfort level. Four of the elementary
teachers responded that they would feel comfortable with the implementation, but only
one jr/sr high school teacher responded that they would feel comfortable. There were 13
teachers overall who were somewhat comfortable, which indicates that professional
development would need to be completed first before implementation into the classroom.
In addition to gathering information about if the participants would implement
each activity in their classroom and their comfort level of implementing mindfulness

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
activities in their classroom, the post survey also gathered data about the teacher’s
perception of the impact that the mindfulness activities would have on their classrooms.
This data is displayed in Figure 6. There was one teacher who did not complete the post
survey. Out of the 20 teachers who responded, there were no teachers who thought that
the implementation of mindfulness activities would have no impact. Eighteen of the
teachers believed there would be some impact, and two believed there would be a lot of
impact.
The data was then reassembled into the different subgroups to determine if the
two teachers that believed it would have a lot of impact competed all the activities. The
data showed that there was one teacher who completed all activities and one teacher who
only completed some of the activities who believed it would have a lot of impact of their
classrooms.
Figure 6.
Perceived Impact on the Classroom

Whole Group

Completed All Activities

Some Impact
0

18
10

Some Impact

20

A Lot of Impact

Male

Some Impact

0

Some Impact

A Lot of Impact

2

1
1

0
1.5

A Lot of Impact

10

Some Impact
A Lot of Impact

1

Some Impact
0

Some Impact

Some Impact
0.5

5

10
10 15

Female

A Lot of… 0
Some Impact
0

1

Some Impact

2

Completed Some
Activites

17
20

8
5

10

A Lot of Impact

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS

4-6 Years of Experience
A Lot of… 0
Some Impact
0

1
1

0
1.5

A Lot of Impact

Some Impact

0

2

3

A Lot of Impact

Some Impact

Some Impact

5

10

0.5

1

1.5

A Lot of Impact

10
15

Some Impact
A Lot of Impact

Jr/Sr High School
0

Some Impact

2
12
5

1
1

Some Impact
0

0
0

Elementary
A Lot of…
Some Impact

6

A Lot of Impact

2
1

4
4

Some Impact

Some Impact

0
0

2

11-15 Years of
Experience

More tha n 20 Years of
Experi ence

16-20 Years of
Experience
Some Impact

1

Some Impact
0.5

Some Impact

7-10 Years of Experience

10

15

A Lot of Impact

0

2

4

All Grades
5
6

A Lot of… 0
Some Impact
0

Some Impact
A Lot of Impact

Some Impact

1
0.5

1

1.5

A Lot of Impact

Discussion
All of the data was gathered using Google forms and then was directly exported
into Google Sheets. The data was then disassembled from the Google Sheets, grouped by
questions and reassembled to analyze. The use of pre and post surveys along with the
daily mindfulness activity surveys allowed for the triangulation of data. Quantitative and
qualitative data were gathered over the course of the eight weeks.
Research Question #1
In response to, “What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived stress?”, the
data showed that teachers demonstrated a variety of stressors, but when those stressors
were grouped into categories, time was the stressor that had the highest rating. All
responses were added together and then divided by the number of respondents to the

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
survey in order to find the average rating for each question. The stressor questions were
asked on the pre and post survey through Likert scale questions. The two responses that
teachers rated the highest from the pre survey were, “I have too much to do and not
enough time to complete tasks” and “I have to take work home.” These two were also
rated the highest on the post survey.
In contrast, the lowest two rated stressors on the pre survey were, “I have
difficulty in my working relationship with administration” and “I get little support from
other teachers.” Whereas, the two rated the highest stayed the same from the pre survey
to the post survey at the end of the eight weeks. One of the two lowest rated stressors
changed from the pre survey to the post survey. At the end of the nine weeks the two
lowest rates stressors were, “I get little support from other teachers” and “I feel like my
colleagues do not think I am doing a good job.” The two stressors with the largest
difference from the beginning of the study to the end were, “I feel isolated at work” and
“I feel like my colleagues think I am doing a good job.” The stressor with the smallest
difference between the start and end of the eight weeks was, “I am unable to keep up with
giving feedback to students.” There was only one stressor that had an increase from the
beginning to the end and that was “I have difficulty in my working relationship with
administration.” At the site of this study, the junior/senior high school principal was new
this year, but the superintendent also announced he was leaving in the last month of the
study.
At the beginning of the study, participants averaged 3.86 on the question asking if
they have a hobby and by the end that was down to 3.50. On the pre survey, respondents
averaged 3.48 on the question that asked if the hobby helped to relieve stress and 3.60 on

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
the post survey. Therefore, fewer reported having a regular hobby, but the response to it
helping to relieve stress was higher.
In addition to the quantitative data collected through the use of Likert Scale
questions, qualitative data was also gathered by asking teachers, “What could the school
district provide to help support you as a teacher in handling work-related stress?” The
data was coded to find patterns, and after coding the responses, it was found that seven
responses were asking for more time and nine responses were asking for more support.
Sixteen out of 20 participants answered this question. Some of the supports that were
mentioned included wellness activities, more directed professional development, more
input into decisions, and administrators who were positive and checked in with their
employees. Some of the responses in response to time were trying to find a solution to
the lack of substitutes so there was less coverage and that “administration could minimize
the number of preps required for a teacher.”
The stressors found were students, parents, lack of support, and time. Time was
the largest perceived stressor in this study.
Research Question #2
The perceived effect of mindfulness on the participant’s stress was gathered from
the post survey and the daily mindfulness surveys. There were three teachers who
selected that the activities had a lot of impact on their stress. All three of these teachers
completed all twenty-four mindfulness activities. None of the teachers who completed
all of the activities selected that the mindfulness activities had a lot of impact. Twelve
teachers said that the activities had some impact on their stress, and five said they had no

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impact. Three of the teachers who completed all activities selected that they had no
impact and two of the teachers that did some activities said that they had no impact.
The twenty-four mindfulness activities all showed a decrease in the average
reported stress from prior to the activity and after the activity. The average decrease was
.50. The smallest decrease was .19, and the largest .90. That is a spread of .71 between
the smallest and largest decreases for the activities. There were twelve activities that
showed a decrease of .50 or larger and twelve activities that showed a decrease smaller
than .50.
The participants were asked to rate their stress level prior to the activity and after
the activity, but they were also asked directly if they thought that the activity was
beneficial in helping to reduces stress. The choices for these questions were yes and no.
These responses varied greatly depending on the activity. The activities with the largest
number of recommendations were activity 17 and activity 10. Both of these activities
had nineteen participants who answered yes. On the other end, activity 23 only had five
participants responded yes that they thought it was beneficial in reducing stress. The
average number of participants that responded yes was 13, and the number answering that
it was not beneficial in reducing stress was 6. This was found by adding all the no
responses together and dividing by 24 for the number of activities. The same was done to
find the average for the number of participants that responded that it was beneficial.
The data from the post survey and the daily mindfulness surveys all aligned and
showed an overall decrease in teacher perceived stress.
Research Question #3

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The participants when looked at as a whole showed an overall decrease is stress,
but do demographics make a difference in the perceived stress? The data was first
analyzed looking at the whole group, then was broken down into two groups: teachers
who participated in all the activities and teachers that only completed some of the
activities. After looking at that data as a whole was then broken down into demographic
subgrouping for gender, years of experience, and either elementary or jr/sr high school
teacher. This data was then analyzed to determine if different genders had a different
impact of the mindfulness activities on their perceived stress.
When the daily mindfulness survey data recorded about pre and post stress levels
were analyzed, the females had a higher pre and post average stress level compared to the
male. However, the difference from prior to the activity and after was only different by
.03. Therefore, even though females had a higher reported stress level both genders
perceived stress decreased about the same amount. The females did report that 332 out of
the 436 activities that they completed helped to reduce their perceived stress, which is 76
percent of the activities where the male reported that only 12 out of the 24 had an impact
on reducing his stress, which is 50 percent. At the end of the study the male did answer
that they believe the activities had some impact, while the females had 11 answers that
there was some impact, 3 that they had a lot of impact, and 5 that they had no impact.
The teacher who taught at both buildings had a higher pre-stress level of 3.67
compared to the teachers who taught only at the elementary school, 2.79, and the teachers
who taught only at the jr/sr high school, 2.53. The teacher that taught at both buildings
also had the highest perceived post stress level. The difference for all three groups was
very close, the largest difference was .02, and the grade levels or buildings taught in did

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
not make a large difference in the impact that mindfulness activities had on perceived
stress. The perceived average stress levels were similar but the teachers at just the
elementary school reported that 71 percent of the activities helped to reduce their
perceived stress which was 10 percent higher than the jr/sr high school. On the other
hand, on the post survey, the jr/sr high school had one teacher that said the activities had
no impact and four who said there was some impact while the elementary had four say
there was no impact, eight say there was some impact, and two that reported there was a
lot of impact. Therefore, some of the data contradicts the other piece when it comes to
the grades taught. If we looked at just the reported perceived average stress levels there
was not a large difference.
Years of experience was the only piece of demographic data that did indicate a
difference. The teachers who had 11-15 years of experience had a pre reported stress
level of 3.04 and the teacher that had 4-6 years of experience reported a perceives stress
level of 3.00. After the activities the teacher who had 4-6 years of experiences rated their
perceived stress at 2.42, while the teaches that had 11-15 years of experience rated their
self-perceived stress level at 2.22. This was the largest decrease in any group of .82. The
smallest decrease was in the 16-20 year subgroup of .17. The other three groups were .43,
.58, and .54. The responses from the teachers as to whether they felt the activity was
effective in reducing stress was also analyzed by years of experience. This data showed
that the teachers with 4-6 years responded that the most activities had reduced their stress
while the teachers with 16-20 years of experience reported the lowest number of
activities as impacting their stress level. The teachers with 16-20 years of experience
also had one teacher report at the end of the study that believe there was no impact and

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one who said there was some impact. The 11-15 years of experience group that reported
the highest decrease from the perceive stress levels reported that 40 out of 48 activities
helped to reduce their perceived stress, and at the end of the study, one of them said there
was some impact, and the other a lot of impact. The two groups of 7-10 years of
experience and more than 20 years of experience were the two largest groups. All of the
data from these two groups were similar. The teachers with 7-10 years reported that 65
percent of the activities helped to reduce their stress, and the group with more than 20
years reported that 67 percent of activities helped to reduce their stress. In the post
survey, the teachers with 7-10 years had two participants report that there was no impact
and three that there was some impact. The teachers with more than 20 years of
experience had two teachers report that there was no impact, six that there was some
impact and two that there was a lot of impact. The years of experience did indicate a
difference in the perceived stress levels and impact of the mindfulness activities on that
perceived stress.
Research Question #4
Data was collected and analyzed by subgroups to address the teachers’ perception
of the impact that mindfulness activities would have on their classroom. There were
seven activities out of 24 that less than 50 percent of participates indicated that they
would use in the classroom. On the post survey, none of the teachers indicated that they
believed that mindfulness activities would have no impact on their classrooms. Ninety
percent of the teachers believed they would have some impact, and ten percent believed
they would have a lot of impact. The two teachers that believed they would have a lot of
impact were females who teach at the elementary building and have 7-10 years of

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experience and 11-15 years of experience. Overall, all teachers thought there would be
an impact in the classroom.
Summary
The data presented indicated that the implementation of mindfulness activities
was effective in reducing teacher perceived stress over an eight-week period. The data
indicated that some of the mindfulness activities were more impactful than others and
that teachers are still hesitant about implementing them into the classroom. Even though
the teachers were hesitant about being comfortable with the implementation into the
classroom they did indicate that they thought there would be an impact on student stress.
The demographics of the teachers did not indicate a large difference in the
perceived stress. However, the perceived stress levels reported were the highest for the
one teacher that goes between both buildings and teaches all grade levels.
In this chapter the data that was gathered during the eight-week period was
described and presented for each research question. In the next chapter, the conclusions
that have been made using the data that was collected will be presented for each of the
research questions. These conclusions will also include recommendations about how the
information will be used in the Purchase Line School district in order to impact teacher
perceived stress in the future. After the conclusions and recommendations, the specific
limitations of this research study will be presented, along with recommendations about
further research based on the limitations and findings of this study.

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CHAPTER V
Conclusions and Recommendations
This Doctoral Capstone Project was designed to determine the effect of
mindfulness activities on Purchase Line School District K-12 teachers’ perceived stress.
The past few years have caused education to pivot and make many changes. The
pandemic caused disruptions in education and led school districts to think out of the box
about how education can and should be delivered not only in the present, but also in the
future. When schools reopened may students still chose to remain online, which caused
traditional brick and mortar programs to develop and maintain online options while
balancing the students returning to full time in person instruction. Students had learning
gaps that needed to be addressed, and the teachers had an increased workload trying to
balance students’ needs and the demands of delivering instruction in multiple ways. All
of this has increased their perceived stress and caused educators to leave the profession.
Teachers leaving the profession has led to the inability to find staff to fill positons. In
addition, there is a lack of individuals entering the teacher profession, so schools are left
being unable to find substitutes. This leads to increased workloads, which in turn leads to
more stress.
In order to determine if mindfulness activities could be used as an effective tool to
help decrease teacher stress in the Purchase Line School District teachers in this study
participated in mindfulness activities three times a week over an eight-week period.
Mindfulness is not something new, but has been around for a long time. “The concept of
mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist tradition, with the term encompassing a nonjudgmental acceptance, curiosity, and awareness of the present moment” (Fedewa et al.,

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
2022, p. 73). This traditional practice has been the topic of many different research
studies over the years, but there have not been many completed in the educational field.
Since the research of mindfulness in education is lacking, this action research
project focused on education. This action research utilized a survey before the
implementation of the mindfulness activities (Appendix B), a survey after the eight-week
period (Appendix C) and a survey three times a week with the mindfulness activities
(Appendix D). The data gathered was analyzed to determine the impact of these
mindfulness activities on teacher stress.
In the previous chapter, a compilation of the data was presented for each research
question along with the results that were collected over the eight-week implementation
period. In this chapter, conclusions related to each of the study’s four research questions
will be presented along with how this information could be applied in the Purchase Line
School District. The limitations and recommendations for future research will also be
included in the last sections of chapter 5.
Conclusions
The overall analysis of the data indicates that mindfulness activities reduce K-12
teachers’ perceived stress. The data from the daily mindfulness activities demonstrated
an average reduction of .50 percent in teacher’s perceived stress levels prior to the
mindfulness activity and after the mindfulness activity. Some mindfulness activities
produced smaller decreases in perceived stress while others were associated with a larger
decrease in stress levels. As further research is contemplated and decisions are made in
districts and schools, the conclusions from each specific question should be taken into
consideration before creating a plan.

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Research Question #1
Teachers encounter different stressors each day while teaching in the classroom. The
first question posed was, “What are the perceived causes of teacher’s perceived stress?”
This question was designed to determine the stressors present in the Purchase Line
School District. If the cause of the teacher’s stress can be determined, then appropriate
measures can be taken to address the stressors and help provide supports to reduce those
causes of stress. The analysis of the data included analyzing the stressors reported prior
to the implementation of the mindfulness activities and at the end of the eight weeks.
The largest decrease from the beginning to the end of the survey was that teachers
feel isolated at work. This decrease could be related to the initial start of the school year
and staff beginning those first few weeks and falling into the daily routine and rhythm by
the end of the study.
There was one stressor that showed an increase in stress, the teachers had difficulty in
their working relationship with administration. This could be due to the new principal at
the junior/senior high school or the announcement of the superintendent leaving the last
month of the study.
The teachers indicated on the surveys that the largest rated stressor was lack of time,
both on the pre survey and the post survey. This data indicates that administration should
focus on how to streamline processes and ensure that teachers are only being given the
required tasks in order to ensure that they have enough time to do their job well. Time is
something everyone is asking for more of. Schools need to put practices and procedures
in place that allow for time to be maximized to help reduce teacher stress.
Implications

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In order to ensure that time is maximized for teachers the administration in the
Purchase Line School District will evaluate and analyze the systems that are currently in
place to determine if any can be streamlined. The teachers indicated having fewer classes
to prep for would be beneficial in reducing their stress. The junior/senior high school
principal will be tackling scheduling for the first time this year, and the courses that
teachers will be teaching will be evaluated to minimize the number of courses teachers
are prepping for next year. However, the balance of teacher needs and students needs
must be taken into consideration and be at the forefront of all decisions.
Each program and system will be evaluated to determine how the systems can be
improved in order to maximize teacher’s time for the remainder of this school year and
into the future. All the pieces will be analyzed in order to determine how to fit all the
pieces of the puzzle together in the most efficient manner.
Reducing the classes that teachers are teaching along with streamlining processes and
systems will allow teachers to have more time to focus on their instruction and should
lead to a more positive climate and culture.
Research Question #2
The second question was, “What is the perceived effect on how mindfulness has
affected their stress level?” The methodology and analysis compared the stress level prior
to the mindfulness activities to the stress levels at the end of each of the mindfulness
activities. A triangulation of data occurred with the post survey results, the rating of
stress levels, and the question of if the teachers felt the activity was beneficial in reducing
stress. The analysis of teachers’ self-care practices for the twenty-one teachers was also
collected and analyzed.

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The post survey asked for the teacher’s perception of the impact that mindfulness had
on their stress. Out of the twenty-one participants, five did not believe that the
mindfulness activities had any impact on their stress. Fifteen believed that there was an
impact on their stress level, and one participant did not complete the post survey. Based
on this data, it could be argued that the majority of individuals would benefit from the use
of mindfulness activities to reduce their stress levels.
In addition, the data gathered before and after each mindfulness activity showed an
average decrease between the perceived stress level reported prior to the activity and after
the activity. The decrease for each activity did vary with the smallest decrease being .19
and the largest being .90. The activities offered varied each day. The activities that had
the largest decreases related to mindful breathing and meditation.
The teachers also indicated on each daily mindfulness survey whether they felt the
activity was beneficial in helping to reduce their stress. Out of the twenty-four activities
there were five activities that teacher found less helpful. There were sixteen that the
majority of teachers indicated that it was beneficial in helping to reduce their stress.
On the pre survey, six of the teachers reported that they never or almost never
managed stress, and at the end four teachers reported almost never managing stress well.
In the pre survey, three teachers indicated that they almost never participated in a hobby
that relieved stress, and on the post survey there were two teachers who indicated that
they almost never participated in a hobby that relieved stress. The pre and post survey
numbers were similar in their responses about their hobby. In comparison there was one
teacher who shared that they never managed their stress at the beginning and on the post,
there were no teachers who responded that they never managed stress well.

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In order to be able to maintain physical and mental health, teachers need to be
able to manage their stress. Each individual has his or her own way to manage stress, and
having a hobby is one tool that same teachers indicated that they have to manage stress.
There was one teacher that indicated that they never managed their stress well at the
beginning of the study on the pre survey and on the post survey they indicated that they
almost never are able to manage their stress well.
Implications
Based on these results, mindfulness can be implemented with staff and the
activities tailored to include activities that demonstrated the greatest reduction in stress.
The activities that showed the largest effect was mindful breathing and meditation, so all
the activities used would include these activities. These mindfulness activities will be
implemented after the staff receives professional development about mindfulness. The
activities will be sent using email to all teachers daily. Sending out the emails daily can
help the teachers develop a routine in which they incorporate the daily mindfulness
activities in each day and studies have shown that there is a greater chance of something
becoming habit if it is practiced regularly. Practicing mindfulness activities regularly can
help develop them into a habit which can then help lead to decreased stress.
Once the teachers experience the mindfulness activities then the following year,
they could be implemented into classrooms to benefit students. Studies have shown that
just a few minutes can have an impact. “Although mindfulness training sessions were
only 3 minutes long, results provide suggestive evidence that even this very brief use of
mindfulness techniques promotes emotional resilience in at-risk adolescents” (Culang et
al., 2021, p. 11). However, teachers need to buy into the practice first before moving

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forward to implementing mindfulness into the classrooms. In time, the implementation
of mindfulness activities for teachers can lead to a reduction in their stress and also
provide tools for students to help hem address their own stress.
Research Question #3
After gathering and analyzing the data to determine the causes of stress and if the
mindfulness activities had a perceived impact on all the teachers, the third question, “Do
the demographics of a teacher make a difference in their perceived stress?” was
addressed by disassembling and reassembling the data by gender, years of experience,
and by the building/grade levels taught.
Gender was one demographic that had limitations. There was only one male that
participated. This makes it difficult to determine the impact that the activities would
have on all males. There was also only one teacher that teaches grades K-12 and is
shared between both buildings. Therefore, more data would need to be collected in order
to determine the impact of mindfulness activities on teachers who teach in both buildings
and all grade levels.
The teachers reported their perceived stress levels before and after each mindfulness
activity. When broken down into male and female, the females had higher reported pre
survey stress levels. However, more research with more than just one male would be
needed in order to determine if gender has an impact on perceived stress levels.
The data was then analyzed according to the years of experience. The teachers with
11-15 years of experience reported the highest perceived stress levels prior to the
activities, but the teachers with 7-10 years of experience reported the highest perceived
post stress levels. All groups reported perceived stress within a difference of .50 percent.

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When the data was analyzed by buildings or grades taught, the teacher shared
between both buildings and teaching all grades reported the highest level of perceived
stress. More research would need to be conducted to be determined if this is the case for
all the teachers in this scenario. The elementary and high school teachers reported both
pre and post perceived stress levels within a difference of .26.
Implications
Demographics did not appear to have a large impact on the perceived stress level that
teachers reported. This information provides administrators the knowledge that all the
teachers have perceived stress and that the demographics of the teachers do not change
those perceived stress levels. Therefore, interventions and supports must be put in place
for all individuals in the district in order to help reduce the amount of stress and give the
teachers tools that they can use to help reduce their stress in order to create an optimal
learning environment for all stakeholders. Reducing teacher stress can help keep teachers
in the educational field by helping to maintain their mental and physical health. Since
different demographic groups did not show large differences, school leaders can
implement mindfulness activities with all staff in order to help reduce their perceived
stress. This would have to be implemented carefully and thought through so that it was
not seen as just another addition to the already fully loaded workloads that teachers are
carefully balancing each day.
Research Question #4
After analyzing the data to determine teacher’s perceived stressors and the perceived
impact of mindfulness on their stress levels the data was then analyzed to determine,

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“What is the teacher’s perception of the impact mindfulness activities would have on
their classroom?”
Teachers were asked if they would use each of the mindfulness activities in their
classroom and whether they believed there would be an impact of the implementation of
mindfulness activities on students in their classrooms.
There were seven activities that the majority indicated they would not use in their
classrooms, but no teachers indicated they thought the implementation of mindfulness
activities would have no impact on their classroom if implemented. One teacher
indicated he would not be comfortable implementing mindfulness activities in the
classroom, which needs to be taken into consideration.
The activities used for this action research were targeted for adults. The teachers’
responses indicate that they think mindfulness activities would be useful, so using more
examples of mindfulness activities that were designed for students may increase the
number of activities they would use in the classroom.
Implications
Since all teachers believe that the implementation of mindfulness activities would be
beneficial in the classroom, the district should look at how to implement mindfulness
activities without having this implementation create more stress for teachers about seeing
it as just another thing. This can be done during the professional development and when
choosing the activities to ensure that they are beneficial to both the staff and students in
order to put mindfulness in a positive light that contributes to a positive learning
environment. The implementation must be done in a way that it does not add extra to the
teacher’s workload. The mindfulness activities designed will be designed so that they

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can also be utilized in the classroom with students. This will allow for the teachers to
picture how they would be able to utilize the activity with students in their classrooms.
Fiscal Implications
The fiscal implications of the study were minimal. Google suite was used for
participants to submit surveys and for the researcher to analyze the results. Participants
used laptops to access the surveys and mindfulness activities. The future fiscal
implications would include the funding for professional development for the staff about
mindfulness for their own physical and mental health along with professional
development for the staff on the implementation of mindfulness in the classrooms.
The costs to implement a mindfulness program in the district would be minimal.
The district currently allocates funds for professional development yearly that could be
utilized for professional development on mindfulness. Therefore, the professional
development for mindfulness would not necessarily be an additional cost to the district.
An additional cost that could be encountered would be if the district decided to
implement an already commercially designed mindfulness program for staff and students
instead of developing and implementing their own programming. Along with
programming if the district would choose to use prebuilt surveys and databases to
progress monitor, this would also be an additional fee.
Each teacher and student already are assigned a device. The Purchase Line
School District is a one-to-one district. Along with having their own device there is a
device in each classroom connected to a projector that could be used to lead the
classroom in a mindfulness activity.

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The implementation of mindfulness into the school programming and curriculum
would not have to create additional costs to the district if the administrators and teachers
are willing to write and develop the programming themselves based on research that is
available.
Limitations
Even though there are minimal fiscal implications to take into consideration, there are
limitations of the study that need to be examined when evaluating the data to make
decisions for future programming in the Purchase Line School District. The invitation to
participate in this eight-week implementation of mindfulness activities was sent to all
sixty-nine teachers in the district, but only twenty-one of the teachers chose to participate.
This is only thirty percent of the teachers in the district. More participants would have
been ideal in order to ensure that a variety of all personalities and genders were included
is the study.
Gender was another limitation in the study. Out of the twenty-one teachers that
volunteered to participate, only one of those participants was a male. The small sample
size of males makes it impossible to compare how mindfulness impacted stress of
different genders. In order to make recommendation for the male population, another
study would need to be completed where more males participate.
One of the reasons that there were small sample sizes is because the participation in
the study was voluntary. In order to gather data from more teachers a study could be
conducted that included teachers from other rural schools in the surrounding areas that
matched the demographics of the Purchase Line School District. Once the
implementation of mindfulness activities begins, then data will need to be collected to

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monitor this implementation and its impact on teacher perceived stress in order to ensure
that what is implemented is in the best interest of all and to make changes as needed.
Out of the twenty-one teachers that volunteered, only one teacher taught in both
buildings, and six in the junior/senior high school, while fourteen teachers teach at the
elementary school. It would have been ideal to have equal sample sizes in both buildings
and to have all the teachers that were shared between the buildings participated in order
to compare these groups thoroughly. These are three different demographics that will
need to be examined when mindfulness activities are implemented.
The participants also included no teachers who had zero to three years of experience
and only two with four to six years. In order to determine the effectiveness on teachers
across the different years of experience, more teachers spread out among their experience
would be needed. In this study the majority of teachers had more than twenty years of
experience. Therefore, in order to determine how different stressors impact teachers at
different points of their career a study that includes teachers in a certain band of years of
experiences could be completed. The limitation of not having any beginning teachers in
the study makes it impossible to know what supports to put in place in the induction plan
at the beginning of a teacher’s career so they do not burn out within the first few years.
Another limitation was that one participant did not complete the post survey. This
means that the analysis and comparisons between the pre and post survey did not include
all twenty-one teachers. Not only did one teacher not complete the post survey, but
throughout the eight weeks not all teachers completed every daily survey and
mindfulness activity. Each activity varied between its focus and time so all twenty-one

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teachers did not experience all the different activities throughout the entire study. There
were ten teachers who completed all of the activities along with the pre and post surveys.
Ideally the surveys and daily mindfulness activities would have been sent out the
same days each week, but because the school schedule varies from week to week the
surveys were not always sent out on the same days.
In regards to the stressors the junior/senior high school had a new principal this
school year and one month before the end of the study the superintendent announced their
departure, which could have had an impact on teacher perceived stress with
administration.
Recommendations for Future Research
There were limitations to this study and in order to provide more effective
supports for students and staff to help reduce their stress levels more research is needed
with a larger group of participants.
One of the limitations was having only one male, further research would need a
larger population of males in order to determine the mindfulness activities relationship
with stress. Another limitation was not having any teachers with 0-3 years of experiences.
Further research would be need in order to develop tools and strategies that would help
beginning teachers and keep them in the field.
This study also took place in a rural school district that lacks diversity. More
research would be needed with a larger more diverse group in order to determine the
impact on everyone.
The mindfulness activities that were used varied from day to day. In order to
determine what mindfulness activities would be of the most benefit, a more targeted

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study with just one type of mindfulness activity would be needed. The activities that
showed the largest decreases were with meditation and breathing. A study could be
developed only using mindful breathing practices to determine the relationship between
only mindful breathing and stress. The study could also be done with multiple groups and
by giving each group just one type of mindfulness activity. This would allow the groups
with different mindfulness activities to then be compared. This data could then be used
by the researcher to determine which mindfulness activity is the most effective for
teachers and then those activities could be used to help address teacher stress.
In addition, a targeted study with a larger sample size of teachers who teach just
one subject or grade level would be beneficial to identify the impact mindfulness has on
their perceived stress and their perceived impact on mindfulness in those specific
classrooms. This research could also be used to narrow down what mindfulness activities
are the most beneficial to each different group. The activities that are used for each
group could also be activities that could be used with the students in their classrooms.
This could help teachers visualize what the activities would look like with their students
and possibly lead to more teachers feeling comfortable implementing these in their
classrooms.
The last consideration for further research would be to have groups of teachers
participate in different hobbies over a time period to determine if mindfulness or other
hobbies are more beneficial in helping reduce teacher stress.
Summary
Stress is a part of everyday life for everyone, and all teachers encounter some form of
stress on a daily basis or even an hourly basis. Leaders in education have a duty to help

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support the staff in the buildings in order to provide an environment where students can
thrive and excel. This study was designed to determine the relationship between
mindfulness activities and teacher perceived stress. Teachers participated in mindfulness
activities three times a week for eight weeks. The teachers completed a pre survey and
post survey. Teachers also completed a survey each day they completed a mindfulness
activity. All the data was compiled and analyzed, and after the analysis it was discovered
that the data confirmed that all teachers have some stress and that their perceived stress
levels and stressors are similar.
The largest stressor shown by the data was lack of time: teachers often have to take
work home. One of the reasons that they have so much work is the lack of substitutes.
Teachers end up having to cover other classrooms during the time they should be
preparing lesson for the next day since there are not substitutes available to come in when
a teacher is absent. One teacher said, “We also need to find a solution to our substitute
shortage so the little time we have now is kept.” Another stressor that was mentioned
that relates back to time was the number of classes a teacher needs to prepare for. One
teacher stated, “Administration could minimize the number of preps required for a
teacher.”
To help address teacher stress from stressors, this study evaluated the relationship of
mindfulness activities to teacher perceived stress. The implementation of mindfulness
activities was proven to help reduce teacher perceived stress levels over the eight-week
period. The decrease in stress was .50 percent. Even though this is a decrease, it is a
small decrease, and we must find ways to further decrease teacher stress levels. The
teachers participated in various activities that demonstrated different impacts on teacher

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perceived stress. When developing and implementing mindfulness activities for staff
these activities should be evaluated and the activities that showed the largest decrease in
the levels of stress should be used.
When designing supports for their staff, leaders need to remember, “Teachers enter
the profession with enthusiasm for the new adventure. Unfortunately, when they start
working, they encounter circumstances that give rise to stress” (Kavenuke et al., 2022, p.
59). In order to ensure that teachers do not get burnt out and leave the profession early
they have to be equipped to handle stress, and this study shows that mindfulness activities
can be one of those tools to help reduce teacher stress in the workplace.

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APPENDICIES
Appendix A
Teacher Consent Form
Dear Faculty Member,
As a teacher in the Purchase Line School District, you are being asked to participate in a research
study teacher of stress and the effect that mindfulness activities have on that stress.
Your participation in this study will help the researcher learn more about how to help reduce stress in the
workplace and provide supports for teachers to handle the stress in the workplace.
If you agree to participate in this study, you will be sent a mindfulness activity every weekday for
eight weeks. Each mindfulness activity will take between 3-5 minutes. You will be asked to complete a
Google Form electronic survey before the study that will take approximately 15 minutes to complete, a
Google Form electronic survey after the study that will take approximately 15 minutes to complete, and a
Google Form electronic survey each day that will take about 2 minutes to complete each day a mindfulness
activity is completed.
The pre- and post-intervention survey will ask you questions about your background in teaching
and questions regarding your perceptions of stress in the work environment. The daily survey will ask
about the activity that was implemented that day.
Your participation in this study is voluntary. There will be no penalty if you choose not to
participate and you can withdraw from the study at any point by notifying the researcher. There will be no
penalty should you choose to withdraw. The researcher will not ask you why you opted to withdraw.
The benefits to participating in the study is to provide evidence if mindfulness activities can help
impact stress and what supports can be put in place to help teachers handle stress in the work environment.
There are minimal risks to this study. None of the questions asked will be of a sensitive nature, but you
may not like answering questions about personal feelings. Participants can also stop their participation at
any time without question.
All of the survey data that is collected will be kept confidential. Your survey responses will be
anonymous. In the report of the findings no names will be used. Data will be password-protected and/or
stored in a locked office.
The participation in this study is voluntary and you do not have to participate. If you choose to
participate, please give your consent by typing your name and clicking continue to fill out the survey.
If you have questions about this study, please contact the researcher, Jessica Lindsay, at
lin4417@pennwest.edu or at 336-493-1715. If you would like to speak with someone other than the
researcher, please contact Dr. Todd Keruskin, Adjunct Professor at Pennsylvania Western University, at
keruskin@pennwest.edu.
By typing your name and clicking continue you agree to participate in the study.
Approved by the Pennsylvania Western Institutional Review Board. This approval is effective 09/20/2022
and expires 09/20/2023.

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Appendix B
Teacher-Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Pre)
1. What is your Gender?
____ Female
____Male
2. What grade/grades do you teach?
___ K ___1 ___2 ___3 ___4 ___5 ___6
___7 ___8 ___9 ___10 ___11 ___12
3. How long have you been teaching?
___ 0-3 years ___4-6 years ___7-10 years
___16-20 years __ more than 20 years

____11-15 years

4. What is your satisfaction with your current position?
___ Very Satisfied
___ Satisfied
___Neutral
___ Dissatisfied
___Very Dissatisfied
5. What is your knowledge level in regard to mindfulness?
__ Superior Knowledge
__Adequate Knowledge
__Basic Knowledge
__ Minimal Knowledge
__ No Knowledge
Please answer all of the following questions using this guide: 1= Never, 2= Almost
Never, 3=Sometimes, 4= Fairly Often and 5 =Very Often.

6. I have difficulty controlling my class
7. I become impatient when students do not do what is
asked.
8. I feel like the lack of motivation to learn affects the
progress of students.
9. My students make my job stressful.
10. I have difficulty in my working relationship with
administration.

1
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11. My administration make demands I cannot meet.
12. I feel like I cannot be myself with administration.
13. I feel isolated at work.
14. I feel like my colleagues do not think I am doing a
good job.
15. I get little support from other teachers.
16. Parents of my students are a source of concern for me.
17. I feel like my students’ parents think I am not doing a
satisfactory job,
18. I have too much to do and not enough time to
complete tasks.
19. I have to take work home.
20. I am unable to keep up with giving feedback to
students.
21. I have difficulty organizing tasks.
22. I think badly of my job performance.
23. My job tires me out.
24. I experience elevated blood pressure, stiff necks,
backaches, and stomachaches from stress.
25. I am tense by the end of the day.
26. I worry about my job.
27. I am unable to use effective methods to manage my
stress.
28. I feel powerless when it comes to stress.
29. I feel like I manage my stress well.
30. I have a hobby.
31. My hobby helps me relieve stress.
32. I collaborate with my colleagues.
33. I feel supported at work.
34. I feel respected at work.
35. How often have you thought about leaving the
position?
36. How often have you felt you were unable to control
things in your life?
37. How often have you been upset because of something
that happened unexpectedly?
38. How often have you felt confident about your ability
to handle your personal problems?
39. How often have you felt that you could not cope with
all the things you had to do?
40. How often have you felt that things were piling up so
high that you could not overcome them?
41. How often have you felt like you were organized?
42. How often have you felt nervous and stressed in the
last month?

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Appendix C
Teacher-Perceived Stress and Mindfulness Survey (Post)
1. What is your satisfaction with your current position?
___ Very Satisfied
___ Satisfied
___Neutral
___ Dissatisfied
___Very Dissatisfied
2. What impact did mindfulness activities have on your overall stress level?
___ No Impact
___ Some Impact
___ A lot of Impact
3. What impact do you think mindfulness activities would have in your
classroom?
___ No Impact
___ Some Impact
___ A lot of Impact
4. How comfortable would you be implementing the mindfulness activities in
your classroom?
__ Not comfortable at all
__ Somewhat Comfortable
__ Comfortable
5. What is your knowledge level in regard to mindfulness?
__ Superior Knowledge
__Adequate Knowledge
__Basic Knowledge
__ Minimal Knowledge
__ No Knowledge
Please answer all of the following questions using this guide: 1= Never, 2= Almost
Never, 3=Sometimes, 4= Fairly Often and 5 =Very Often.
6. I have difficulty controlling my class
7. I become impatient when students do not do what is
asked.
8. I feel like the lack of motivation to learn affects the

1
1

2
2

3
3

4
4

5
5

1

2

3

4

5

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progress of students.
9. My students make my job stressful.
10. I have difficulty in my working relationship with
administration.
11. My administration make demands I cannot meet.
12. I feel like I cannot be myself with administration.
13. I feel isolated at work.
14. I feel like my colleagues do not think I am doing a
good job.
15. I get little support from other teachers.
16. Parents of my students are a source of concern for me.
17. I feel like my students’ parents think I am not doing a
satisfactory job,
18. I have too much to do and not enough time to
complete tasks.
19. I have to take work home.
20. I am unable to keep up with giving feedback to
students.
21. I have difficulty organizing tasks.
22. I think badly of my job performance.
23. My job tires me out.
24. I experience elevated blood pressure, stiff necks,
backaches, and stomachaches from stress.
25. I am tense by the end of the day.
26. I worry about my job.
27. I am unable to use effective methods to manage my
stress.
28. I feel powerless when it comes to stress.
29. I feel like I manage my stress well.
30. I have a hobby.
31. My hobby helps me relieve stress.
32. I collaborate with my colleagues.
33. I feel supported at work.
34. I feel respected at work.
35. How often have you thought about leaving the
position?
36. How often have you felt you were unable to control
things in your life?
37. How often have you been upset because of something
that happened unexpectedly?
38. How often have you felt confident about your ability
to handle your personal problems?
39. How often have you felt that you could not cope with
all the things you had to do?
40. How often have you felt that things were piling up so

1
1

2
2

3
3

4
4

5
5

1
1
1
1

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high that you could not overcome them?
41. How often have you felt like you were organized?
42. How often have you felt nervous and stressed in the
last month?

1
1

2
2

3
3

4
4

40. What could the school district provide to help support you as a teacher in
handling work-related stress?

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Appendix D
Mindfulness Survey
Mindfulness Activity posted here.
1. Did you complete the mindfulness activity today?
___ Yes
____ No
Please answer all of the following questions using this guide: 1= No Stress, 2= A small
amount of stress, 3=Moderate amount of stress, 4= Stress that is causing a physical
symptom such as irritability, high blood pressure, etc. 5= Stress to the point I cannot
function.
2. How did you feel prior to the activity?
1 2 3 4 5
3. How did you feel after the activity?
1 2 3 4 5
4. Would you recommend this activity to a colleague?
___ Yes
____ No
5. Would you participate in the activity again?
___ Yes
____ No
6. Do you think this activity is beneficial in helping to reduce stress?
___ Yes
____ No
7. Would you use this activity in your classroom?
___ Yes
____ No

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Appendix E

Week 2

Week 1

Daily Mindfulness Activities
Activity 1
Learn about definition of
mindfulness and purpose of
mindfulness.
(Adapted from, Psych hub,
2022)

Activity 2
Trace the number 8 on
your palm slowly,
breathe in as you trace it
once, then breathe out as
you trace it again.
Repeat this for one
minute.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Activity 4
Mindful Breathing
(Adapted from Every Mind
Matters, 2019)

Activity 5
Eat mindfully today, take
a bite of something and
focus on the taste, the
texture, and the smell.
Look at the bite of food
before eating. What does
it look like, what texture
does it have, what colors
do you see, what do you
notice that you have not
noticed before? Take a
small bite what
information is your
tongue giving you about
the taste and texture.
What do your teeth tell
you, how does it feel
when you swallow and it
traveling down into your
stomach? Does your
body feel different at all,
what about your mood,
do you want another
bite?
(Adapted from Action for
Happiness, 2022)

Activity 3
Go outside and watch the
sky or clouds for two
minutes observe how
they change shape, what
do you hear, what do you
see, concentrate on how
the clouds are moving
and changing shapes.
(Adapted from Action for
Happiness, 2022)
Activity 6
Listen to a piece of music
for two minutes,
concentrate on just that
music and clear your
mind.
(Adapted from Action for
Happiness, 2022)

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MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Activity 7
Look around and find 3-5
things you find pleasant.
Think about why you find
those things pleasant.
(Adapted from Action for
Happiness, 2022)

Activity 10
Complete the breathing
meditation- (Adapted from
Cal Sage, 2021)

Activity 8
Do a neck roll and pay
attention to the
sensations. Repeat this
for one minute.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Activity 11
Help someone today and
then think about how you
felt while helping that
person and how you felt
after.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Activity 13

Activity 14

Complete Body Shaking
activity for a minute
(Adapted from Class
Catalyst, 2021)

Close your eyes and
concentrate on what you
hear.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Activity 9
Close your eyes and
listen for one minute then
name three things that
you can hear. Open your
eyes and name two things
you can see, and one
sensation that you felt.
(Adapted from
Ackerman, 2017)
Activity 12
Walk on two different
surfaces. While walking
on each surface
concentrate on the feeling
of your feet touching the
ground.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)
Activity 15
Smile and pay attention
the sensations and the use
of the muscles while
smiling.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022

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Week 7

Week 6

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Activity 16

Activity 17

Activity 18

Complete Follow Your
breath exercise for two
minutes. Place your hand
on your chest and notice
how it moves up and down
as you breathe. Count your
breaths. 'Breathing in, one.
Breathing out, two,' and so
on. After spending a few
moments paying attention to
breathing, think about how
you feel.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

This breathing exercise
can be called box
breathing, or can exist by
a few other names. It's a
very simple breathing
exercise that people that
can be used by those who
are in high stress
situations. This is a great
technique to control
those ruminating
thoughts while
attempting to fall asleep.
The practice is pretty
simple: Breathe in for the
count of four, hold your
breath for the count of
four, breathe out for the
count of four, hold for
the count of four, and
repeat.
(Adapted from
Conscience Works,
2021)

Complete Body Tapping
activity,
(Adapted from Body and
Brain TV, 2021)

Activity 19

Activity 20

Activity 21

2 Minute Body Scan
Meditation
(Adapted from Mindfulness
Meditation, 2019)

Say something kind to
someone today and then
reflect upon how that
made you feel.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Get something to drink,
look at it closely, what
does it look like, what
color is it, how does it
smell? Take a drink
notice how it feels on
your tongue, how does it
taste what sensations do
you have when drinking.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

135

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS

Week 8

Activity 22
Complete Five-Finger
Breathing for two minutes
(Adapted from Mindful
Breathing Meditation,2022)

Activity 23
Do ten jumping jacks
paying attention to the
sensations throughout
your body.
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

Activity 24
Look around and find
everything your favorite
color, how does that color
make you feel? Choose
one object and look at it
closely noticing every
detail, what is the texture,
how does it feel, is there
anything you hadn't
noticed about the object
before?
(Adapted from mindful,
2022)

MINDFULNESS AND PERCEIVED STRESS
Appendix F
IRB Approval

Institutional Review Board
250 University Avenue
California, PA 15419
instreviewboard@calu.edu
Melissa Sovak, Ph.D.
Dear Jessica,
Please consider this email as official notification that your proposal titled “Influencing or
Ineffective? The Relationship between Mindfulness Activities on K-12 Teacher Perceived
Stress” (Proposal #PW22-019) has been approved by the Pennsylvania Western University
Institutional Review Board as submitted.
The effective date of approval is 09/20/2022 and the expiration date is 09/19/2023. These
dates must appear on the consent form.
Please note that Federal Policy requires that you notify the IRB promptly regarding any of
the following:
(1) Any additions or changes in procedures you might wish for your study (additions or
changes must be approved by the IRB before they are implemented)
(2) Any events that affect the safety or well-being of subjects
(3) Any modifications of your study or other responses that are necessitated by any
events reported in (2).
(4) To continue your research beyond the approval expiration date of 09/19/2023, you
must file additional information to be considered for continuing review. Please contact
instreviewboard@calu.edu
Please notify the Board when data collection is complete.
Regards,
Melissa Sovak, PhD.
Chair, Institutional Review Board

136