The effects of meditation on teacher perceived occupational stress, state and trait anxiety, and burnout

Teacher stress has been the focus of educational concern and research for decades, and has resulted in the development of several teacher stress scales and various strategies to address the negative effects of stress and burnout. Few empirical studies have evaluated specific programs designed to reduce teacher stress. However, promising results have come from the practice of standardized meditation (SM). The current study employed a pretest-posttest control group design and used the Teacher's Stress Inventory (TSI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess the effect of a 5-week standardized meditation class on the perceived occupational stress of 91 full-time teachers from seven suburban school districts in three states. Results were consistent with previous studies and offered support for the hypothesis that SM significantly reduces teachers' perceived stress. Teachers perceived a reduction in stress using SM only 2-5 times per week. The use of standardized meditation by school psychologists to assist in reducing teacher stress is discussed.