Professional Documents
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RESUMEN ABSTRACT
(Pp. 11-22)
En este estudio se analiza la incidencia This study analyzes the impact of a medi-
de un programa de meditacin sobre los -
niveles de estrs, ansiedad y depresin pression levels in a group of special edu-
de un grupo de docentes de educacin
especial. Para ello se cont con la parti- receiving meditation intervention and a
control group which did not participa-
recibi dicha intervencin en meditacin,
y un grupo control que no fue sometido a evaluated in both groups by the Teacher
dicha intervencin. Los niveles de estrs,
ansiedad y depresin de ambos grupos Sanz, 2005). Statistical analyses showed
fueron evaluados mediante la Escala de
-
tal group than the control group. The
realizados mostraron una reduccin sig-
- usefulness of meditation techniques as
-
tal en comparacin con el grupo control. in the training of future special education
Los resultados hallados en la presente in- teachers to improve their psychological
and emotional wellbeing.
tcnicas de meditacin como estrategias
tiles y efectivas que pueden ser incorpo-
radas en la formacin de los futuros do-
centes de educacin especial para mejo-
rar su bienestar psicolgico y emocional.
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
La tabla 1 muestra las medias y desvia- Para valorar la magnitud del cambio
ciones tpicas pretest y postest correspon- -
ple la d de Cohen (1988), que se obtie-
para las variables estrs, ansiedad y depre- ne mediante la aplicacin de la frmula
sin (ver tabla 1 en pgina siguiente).
M1 M2
d=
- Sponderada
medidas pretest y postest entre ambos las puntuaciones postest, todo ello divi-
grupos, se utiliz la prueba t de Student dido entre la desviacin tpica pondera-
para muestras independientes (vase ta- da que viene dada mediante la frmula
S12 + S22
- Sponderada= . Valores superiores
2
cativas entre ambos grupos en las medi-
das pretest en ninguna de las variables. a 0.8 indican cambios muy importantes,
entre 0.5 y 0.8 importantes, por debajo
grupos en las variables analizadas antes de 05 medios y menores de 0.2 bajos. En
de la intervencin. Sin embargo, se obser- la Tabla 4 se observa cmo las puntua-
- ciones de la d de Cohen en el grupo con-
cativas entre ambos grupos en las medi-
das postest en la variable estrs docente muy bajos, con valores que oscilan en-
(t=3.03; p<.05), no apareciendo diferencias tre .003 y .052, mientras que en el grupo
- -
portantes en la variable estrs docente
variables ansiedad (t=.705; p>.05) y depre- (d=.76), y cambios de nivel medio en las
sin (t=.510; p>.05) (ver tabla 2 en pgina variables ansiedad (d=.44), y depresin
siguiente). (d=.37).
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
PRETEST POSTEST
Control Experimental Control Experimental
M DT M DT M DT M DT
Estrs 179.88 30.57 184.13 36.31 179.75 30.18 159.93 26.63
Ansiedad 43.25 16.04 45.60 19.26 42.06 16.13 38.27 13.62
Depresin 17.44 6.53 19.27 10.99 17.12 5.52 16.08 5.38
Tabla 1. Medias y desviaciones tpicas pretest y postest correspondientes a los grupos control y experimental
para las variables estrs, ansiedad y depresin.
PRETEST POSTEST
Variable t p t p
Estrs .661 .514 3.03 .048*
Ansiedad .685 .499 .705 .456
Depresin 1.49 .145 .510 .614
Nota: *p<.05
Tabla 2. Prueba t de Student para muestras independientes de las diferencias pretest y postest
entre el grupo control y experimental, para las variables estrs, ansiedad y depresin.
CONTROL EXPERIMENTAL
Variable t p t p
Estrs docente .077 .940 3.48 .004*
Ansiedad 1.80 .105 3.07 .008**
Depresin .740 .471 3.11 .008**
Nota: *p<.005; **p<.01
Tabla 4. d de Cohen y porcentaje de cambio del grupo control y experimental para las variables
estrs, ansiedad y depresin.
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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R E D UCCI N D E LO S N I V EL ES D E ES T R S, A N S I EDA D Y DEPRESI N EN DO CENTES DE EDUCACI N ESPECIA L
DIRECCIN DE CONTACTO
Clemente Franco Justo
Departamento de Psicologa Evolutiva y de la Educacin
Facultad de Ciencias de la Educacin
Universidad de Almera. Carretera de Sacramento s/n.
La Caada de San Urbano. Almera 04120. Espaa. cfranco@ual.es
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
ABSTRACT
(Pp. 23-33)
This study analyzes the impact of a me-
-
depression levels in a group of special
control group. The results found in this
group receiving meditation interven- -
tion and a control group which did not
- that may be integrated in the training
sion were evaluated in both groups by of future special education teachers to
- improve their psychological and emo-
tional wellbeing.
KEYWORDS
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REDUCING STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN A GROUP OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS USING A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM
Chakravorty (1989) did a study in which Paula (2005) suggests several factors in-
he found that 77% of long-term teacher herent in work in special education that
absences were due to mental pathologies could trigger job stress:
related to stress. These results agree with
those found by Sevilla and Villanueva 1. Special education is not valued by
(2000), who found an annual increase in the public in todays society
sick leave due to psychiatric illness not
found in other professions and that re- 2. The fact that it is a care-giving pro-
sulted in diminished performance and fession makes it more vulnerable to
increased absenteeism.
-
sively studied in recent years, the fact that the disabled and their families, in
it is in special education where the fewest which daily work takes place.
studies have been done on this subject
- 5. The interdisciplinary nature and
teamwork involved in special educa-
of special education where problems of -
- sary for interpersonal relations, re-
cur to a greater proportion than in other
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
Unfortunately, the curricular training of ently of his thoughts and emotions, and
special education teachers does not include not automatically accept as true what he
any psychological preparation, or any self- thinks and feels. At the same time, mind-
knowledge tools, so they usually lack the fulness
resources and skills necessary to be able
to face the requirements and demands without judging, that develops one in-
posed by their daily labor (Anadn, 2005; stant at a time, minute by minute, through
and Herruzo (2004) suggest that greater unprejudiced at the present time (Kabat-
self-awareness and stronger self-control
teachers from stress. full awareness is a mental state that ena-
bles a person to focus on the reality of the
present time, openly and without judging
has been demonstrating that meditation or allowing oneself to be carried away by
causes changes in the brain associated with his thoughts and emotions, observing the
more positive emotions. Studies have dem- content of his mind impartially from afar.
-
tal lobe which is where positive emotions During meditation you are in a state
are stored and managed, at the same time characterized by the projection of a sin-
that functioning is reduced on the right side. gle set of signals at a time, and the reper-
It has also been found that persons who use cussion on the organisms physiological
- structure is manifested in a clear tendency
ative emotions and tension more quickly, toward normalizing reactions, and more
at the same time that emotions such as an- -
Lewis, Lutz, Schaefer, Levinson, and David- slowing down heartbeat and metabolism,
son, 2007; Davidson et al., 2003).
concentrate (LeShan, 2005).
Kabat-Zinn (1990) boosted the use of
mindfulness meditation as a procedure for
treatment of psychophysiological and psycho- are two types of meditation, concentration
somatic disorders by developing the Mindful- meditation, which consists of concentrating
ness-Based Stress Reduction program on a concrete stimulus, and another very
directed at treatment of general stress -
in behavioral medicine. This program is ness meditation, which is limited to becom-
mainly an educational program based on a ing aware of the stimuli that reach you.
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REDUCING STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN A GROUP OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS USING A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM
thing at this stage is not to do anything. Therefore, the hypothesis of this re-
Thoughts are not followed up, so they lead search is that special education teachers
away from the present. Emotions are not who participate in a meditation training
followed up because they are not acted up- -
on. Feelings are not followed up because it
stress levels compared to a group of spe-
how unpleasant they may be. In this sense, cial education teachers who do not par-
- ticipate in this meditation training.
activating thoughts (defusion), because it
completely relativizes them, so they do not
lead to action and are observed as process-
2. Methodology
es that are occurring, without considering
the reality of their content. 2.1. Participants
A total of 36 special education teachers
(2004) believe that there is an erroneous (10 men and 26 women) at public schools
tendency to confuse meditation with con- -
centration, when in fact they are completely era (Spain) participated in this study.
- Their ages varied from 29 to 52 (M=34.74;
tion a person concentrates, creating a dual- SD=11.43). Eighteen participants were as-
ity of awareness, a separation and demar-
cation in which a mental process that seeks and 13 women), and the remaining 18 to
the control group (5 men and 13 women).
On the contrary, meditation is not an act of Subjects were assigned to one group or an-
will, not a mental activity, but conscious -
able so that there were the same number of
men and women in both groups.
where nothing is compared and no conclu-
sions of any kind are pursued.
2.2. Design
In recent years, meditation techniques -
have been successfully employed in treat- tion program (independent variable) on
ing a diversity of disorders, such as de-
special education teachers (dependent
comparison design was used with pre-
-
Westlund, 1993), psychological discom- perimental group and a control group.
de la Banda, 2007), stress reduction (Sol-
2.3. Instruments
berg, Ingjer, Holen, Sundgot-Borgen, -
2000), insomnia
-
et al., 1993), and to generally improve the
subjects wellbeing (Ferguson, 1981). non-adaptive beliefs, demotivation and
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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REDUCING STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN A GROUP OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS USING A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM
S12 + S22
The Students t for independent sam- Sponderada=
ples was used to analyze the two groups 2
-
-
ments (see table 2). Table 2 shows there from 0.5 to 0.8 large, below 0.5 medium
and less than 0.2 small. In Table 4, the Co-
between the groups in pretest measure- hens d in the control group shows very
ments or in the variables. That is, there small changes, with values varying from
the variables analyzed before interven-
stress variable (d
d=.44), and depression (d=.37).
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
PRETEST POSTTEST
Control Experimental Control Experimental
M DT M DT M DT M DT
Stress 179.88 30.57 184.13 36.31 179.75 30.18 159.93 26.63
Anxiety 43.25 16.04 45.60 19.26 42.06 16.13 38.27 13.62
Depression 17.44 6.53 19.27 10.99 17.12 5.52 16.08 5.38
PRETEST POSTTEST
Variable t p t p
Stress .661 .514 3.03 .048*
Anxiety .685 .499 .705 .456
Depression 1.49 .145 .510 .614
Note: *p<.05
CONTROL EXPERIMENTAL
Variable t p t p
Teacher stress .077 .940 3.48 .004*
Anxiety 1.80 .105 3.07 .008**
Depression .740 .471 3.11 .008**
Note: *p<.005; **p<.01
Table 3. Student t
and depression variables.
Table 4. Cohens d
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REDUCING STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN A GROUP OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS USING A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM
et al., 2000; Westlund, 1993).
it may be concluded that our research con- Therefore, from the results of this re-
search, it may be concluded that the regu-
- lar practice of meditation provides the
subject with a framework of stability from
the group of special education teachers which to observe stressful thoughts with-
that received meditation training com- out reacting to them, thereby removing
pared to the control group that did not their stressful nature, while remaining re-
receive the intervention program. Both
groups started out with similar scores in practicing meditation, one learns to keep
- the mind calm and concentrate on the
- present moment, the here and now, de-
ences in pretest scores in these variables veloping full awareness of what is going
between the two groups at the beginning. on at all times. By concentrating on some-
- mind slows down and uncontrolled, au-
tomatic thoughts start slowing down and
become less intense (Holen, 2006).
- In view of the above, we believe that
-
-
variables. However, statistical analysis tem to begin to seriously plan inclusion of
- these techniques in future teacher educa-
tion curricula, in order to prepare future
teachers with a series of tool and strate-
-
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
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REDUCING STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN A GROUP OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS USING A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM
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R E V I S TA E D U C AC I N I N C LU S I VA V O L. 2, N . 3
Author information
Clemente Franco Justo
Collaborating Professor in the University of Almera (Spain). Department of Develop-
mental and Educational Psychology.
Israel Maas Maas
Research Fellow in the University of Almera (Spain). Department of Personality,
Evaluation and Psychological Treatment.
Eduardo Justo Martnez
Head of the University of Almera (Spain). Department of Developmental and Edu-
cational Psychology.
CONTACT ADDRESS
Clemente Franco Justo
Department of Developmental & Educational Psychology.
Humanities Building A.
University of Almera.
Carretera de Sacramento s/n
La Caada de San Urbano. Almera 04120. Spain. cfranco@ual.es
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