Evaluation of a bibliotherapy-based stress management training for teachers

The study was a randomized control trial of a cognitive-behavioral bibliotherapy-based stress management training for teachers. The intervention consisted of the Stress Management for Teachers book, an in-person meeting, and three brief follow-up webinars with weekly practice over the course of 4 weeks. There were 53 participants in the study and teachers were randomly assigned to the intervention or waitlist control conditions. Multilevel regression was used to examine the intervention effects accounting for teachers nested in schools and controlling for school district, years of teaching experience, and the baseline measure. The intervention reduced stress on the Perceived Stress Scale (? = -0.53). Teachers also increased in specific coping strategies of planning (? = 0.62), positive reframing (? = 0.66), and decreased in self-reported substance use (? = -0.44). The intervention did not have statistically significant effects on contextual factors or on observed classroom behaviors. The intervention demonstrated treatment effects on anxiety symptoms on the GAD-7 (? = -0.51). Further, in comparison to participants in the control group, teachers in intervention condition had statistically significant changes in symptom severity level in anxiety on the GAD-7 (Cramer's V = .45) and in depression on the PHQ-8 (Cramer's V = .42). From progress monitoring data, teachers in the intervention condition had greater rates of improvement in increased coping, confidence and use of coping strategies (p's < .05). Additional supports may be needed to enhance coping with stressors related to classroom management and organizational health and to optimize the intervention delivery.