Meditation and gratitude practice for early childhood teachers

Evans, Samantha L.

Meditation and gratitude practice for early childhood teachers

dc.contributor.advisor	Lake, Vickie
dc.contributor.author	Evans, Samantha L.
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Ethridge, Libby
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Horm, Diane
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Hellman, Chan
dc.date.accessioned	2022-05-18T20:54:38Z
dc.date.available	2022-05-18T20:54:38Z
dc.date.issued	2022-05-13
dc.date.manuscript	2022-03-23
dc.description.abstract	Many early childhood educators are experiencing an increase in stress, affecting their self-efficacy well-being (Hue & Lau, 2016). Mindfulness, which is the awareness, openness, and receptiveness of one’s present life (Seema & Sare, 2019), has been used in the classroom to help decrease stress and anxiety for students and teachers (Harris, 2017). Previous research has examined the use of mindfulness primarily as part of the student’s curriculum, but there has not been a focus on the teachers’ use of mindfulness. More research is needed on the benefits of teachers using mindfulness practices, specifically, meditation and gratitude, when practiced regularly (Meiklejohn et al., 2012). Combining self-efficacy, self-determination, and hope theory, a new theoretical model, Mindfulness Sequence Model (Evans, 2020), first illustrates how mindfulness is practiced. Next, A multiple case study design was used following five teachers during an eight-week intervention. Through daily audio recording reflections after meditation and gratitude practices, weekly interviews, and pre-post-surveys, the study explored the teachers’ experiences with meditation and gratitude and connections to their self-efficacy and hope. Teachers reported increased teacher self-efficacy, hope, decreased stress, and an increase in classroom community after practicing meditation and gratitude daily. Last, based on the theoretical model presented and the lived experiences, teachers are provided with a guide on how implementing a daily morning meditation and afternoon gratitude practice in their classroom.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/335823
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Mindfulness	en_US
dc.subject	Early Childhood Educators	en_US
dc.subject	Classroom Intervention	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Ph.D.	en_US
dc.title	Meditation and gratitude practice for early childhood teachers	en_US
ou.group	Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education::Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum	en_US
shareok.orcid	0000-0002-2480-7437	en_US