Effects of a Mindfulness Intervention Among Arab Teachers Are Mediated by Decentering: A Pilot Study

Aviva Berkovich-Ohana; Shiri Lavy; Kholoud Shanboor

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.542986

Effects of a Mindfulness Intervention Among Arab Teachers Are Mediated by Decentering: A Pilot Study

Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 29:11:542986. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.542986. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Aviva Berkovich-Ohana^{1

2

3

4}, Shiri Lavy⁵, Kholoud Shanboor¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Learning, Instruction and Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
² Department of Counseling and Human Development, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
³ Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
⁴ The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
⁵ Department of Leadership and Policy in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.

Abstract

Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in education are widely spreading in the world, examination of mindfulness effects in Arab schools is still scarce. This pilot study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of an MBI among Arab teachers in Israel. This examination was conducted within the framework of the mindful self in school relationships (MSSR) model, which suggests that the positive effects of MBI on teachers' emotion regulation are mediated by decentering. The participants (N = 39) were teachers from two Arab elementary schools in Israel, who underwent an MBI course (the MBI condition, N = 20) and another cognitive intervention (the control condition, N = 19). In a pre-post design, participants completed mindfulness, decentering, emotion regulation, and stress questionnaires. We hypothesized that (1) only in the MBI group, teachers' mindfulness, decentering, and emotional regulation will increase and stress will decrease, and (2) changes in teachers' decentering would mediate the associations of changes in teachers' mindfulness with changes in their emotion regulation. ANOVA analyses show that, only in the MBI condition, teachers showed an increase in three mindfulness subscales (acting with awareness, non-reactivity, and observance), in decentering, and in adaptive emotion regulation (reappraisal) and a decrease in stress. Furthermore, changes from pre-intervention to post-intervention in teachers' decentering mediated the associations of their pre-post changes in mindfulness with changes in emotion regulation. This study provides initial support to the feasibility and efficacy of MBI among Israeli Arab teachers and suggests decentering as a potential mediator of its effects in initial support of the MSSR model.

Keywords: arab schools; decentering; emotion regulation; mindfulness; teachers.