Meditation Effective in Reducing Teacher Burnout and Improving Resilience: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Teacher burnout affects job performance and mental and physical health. This study evaluated the effects of a meditation-based wellness program on burnout, resilience, psychological distress, and fatigue. Seventy-eight participants, randomly assigned to the Transcendental Meditation program (n = 39) or to a wait-list control group (n = 39), were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Resilience Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and the National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System fatigue and depression scales at baseline and at four-month posttest. Intention-to-treat with all 78 participants was used for all analyses. Significant reduction on emotional exhaustion, the main scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was found for the meditation group compared to controls (p = 0.019). Significant improvements were also found on resilience (p = 0.014), perceived stress (p < 0.001), fatigue (p = 0.001), and depression (p = 0.091). Eighty-seven percent were compliant with their meditation home practice. Findings indicate that meditation is effective in improving burnout and associated resilience, psychological distress, and fatigue factors. Teachers may benefit from in-school wellness programs.

Full text

Meditation Effective in Reducing
Teacher Burnout and Improving
Resilience: A Randomized Controlled
Study
Laurent Valosek
1
*, Staci Wendt
2
, Jan Link
3
, Allan Abrams
1
, Jerry Hipps
2
, James Grant
1
,
Randi Nidich
1
, Marie Loiselle
1
and Sanford Nidich
1
1
Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education, San Francisco, CA, United States,
2
WestEd, San Francisco, CA,
United States,
3
San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, CA, United States
Teacher burnout affects job performance and mental and physical health. This study
evaluated the effects of a meditation-based wellness program on burnout, resilience,
psychological distress, and fatigue. Seventy-eight participants, randomly assigned to the
Transcendental Meditation program (n 39) or to a wait-list control group (n 39), were
administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Resilience Scale, Perceived Stress Scale,
and the National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement
Information System fatigue and depression scales at baseline and at four-month
posttest. Intention-to-treat with all 78 participants was used for all analyses. Significant
reduction on emotional exhaustion, the main scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was
found for the meditation group compared to controls (p0.019). Significant improvements
were also found on resilience (p0.014), perceived stress (p<0.001), fatigue (p0.001),
and depression (p0.091). Eighty-seven percent were compliant with their meditation
home practice. Findings indicate that meditation is effective in improving burnout and
associated resilience, psychological distress, and fatigue factors. Teachers may benefit
from in-school wellness programs.
Keywords: meditation, teachers, burnout, stress, wellness
INTRODUCTION
By some estimates 70% of professionals are under frequent stress, with over 20% estimated to be
suffering from burnout (Burke et al., 1996;Rudow, 1999). Teachers, in particular, face a considerable
amount of daily pressures, stress, and fatigue due to their classroom challenges and other
professional activities (Flook et al., 2013). Stressors that may be contributing to teacher burnout
include classroom management problems due to student misbehavior, high workloads, feeling of
time pressure, excessive administrative tasks, and other organization factors (McCormick and
Barnett, 2011;Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2010;Maslach and Leiter, 2008;Blase, 1986;Boyle et al., 1995;
Flook, et al., 2013).
Burnout is defined by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of personal
accomplishment (Maslach et al., 2010). Emotional exhaustion, the key aspect of burnout (Maslach
et al., 2010;Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2010), is the feeling of not being able to offer any more of oneself at
work, as the consequence of a prolonged exposure to excessive demands. Depersonalization is a
cynical and detached attitude toward clients/students. Personal accomplishment is the feeling of
Edited by:
Cheryl J. Craig,
Texas A&M University, United States
Reviewed by:
Manpreet Kaur Bagga,
Partap College of Education, India
Jason DeHart,
Appalachian State University,
United States
*Correspondence:
Laurent Valosek
lvalosek@cwae.org
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Teacher Education,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Education
Received: 10 November 2020
Accepted: 20 January 2021
Published: 04 March 2021
Citation:
Valosek L, Wendt S, Link J, Abrams A,
Hipps J, Grant J, Nidich R, Loiselle M
and Nidich S (2021) Meditation
Effective in Reducing Teacher Burnout
and Improving Resilience: A
Randomized Controlled Study.
Front. Educ. 6:627923.
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.627923
Frontiers in Education | www.frontiersin.org March 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 6279231
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 04 March 2021
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.627923

performing tasks adequately and a sense of achievement. Burnout
develops as a result of the inability to protect oneself from
repeated social-environmental stress (Maslach et al., 2010;
Jacobson, 2016). Additional factors such as a lack of
autonomy, the feeling of isolation, and the lack of balance
between home and work responsibilities contribute to burnout
(Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2010;Avalos, 2011;Fernet et al., 2012;
Jacobson, 2016). Indications of teacher burnout include
increasing absenteeism from work, impatience with students
and colleagues, a growing lack of commitment, and
increasingly poorer job performance (Parker et al., 2012;
Jacobson, 2016).
Studies indicate that burnout is prevalent across professional
groups (Kahill, 1988;Friedman, 1995;Prins et al., 2007). Many of
the same contributing factors to burnout found in teachers can be
observed in other professionals: workload demands and increased
responsibilities; time demands, including feeling little control
over one’s work time; limited resources; and administrative
and staff conflict (Kuzsman and Schnall, 1987;Boyle et al.,
1995;Thomas, 2004). Lack of recognition, increased
administrative work, and the balancing of time between work
and home life are factors related to lack of job satisfaction and
personal accomplishment, a component of burnout (Balch and
Copeland, 2007;Lowenstein et al., 2007;Shanafelt et al., 2009;
Jones and Yun, 2011).
Burnout is not just a problem within the United States, but has
been increasing globally. For example, Austrian workers are
experiencing burnout at a rate of over 50% with over 10%
suffering from major depression (Wurm et al., 2016). Burnout
has recently been a central focus in research conducted in
countries around the world, including Great Britain (Petersen
and Burnett, 2008), Sweden (Grensman et al., 2018), Italy
(Pompili et al., 2010), Hungary (Piko, 2006), and Canada
(Regehr et al., 2014;Howlett et al., 2015). The increasing
interest in research on burnout comes from the fact that it
affects both the professional and the client, or student (Prins
et al., 2007).
High perceived stress and low resilience—the inability to cope
with daily stressors and overcome challenges—are implicated in
the development of burnout (Anderson et al., 1994;Burke et al.,
1996). Burnout is commonly found with high levels of
psychological distress, including depression and anxiety
(Dyrbye et al., 2014). Research indicates that the higher the
degree of burnout the more severe the symptoms of
depression (Wurm, et al., 2016). Degree of burnout has also
been shown to be associated with degree of hopelessness
(Pompili, et al., 2010).
A vicious cycle of ignoring “resilience wear-down”predisposes
one to burnout, which in turn can lead to lower resilience (Sotile
and Sotile, 2002). Having the trait of resilience allows one to
overcome stress and problems and become stronger from the
experience. Resilience is suggested to be a buffer between burnout
and adverse mental and physical health outcomes (Arrogante,
2014).
Psychological distress adversely affects work productively as
well as contributing to poorer mental and physical health (Muse
et al., 2003). Perceived stress, specifically, is associated with
negative health behaviors and a worsening cardiac risk profile
(Rod et al., 2009). A 10-year prospective study indicated that
emotional exhaustion scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory
were strong predictors of increased risk for mortality (Ahola et al.,
2010).
Prior programs have used a wide range of modalities and
interventions, including counseling, relaxation therapy, and stress
management, to address emotional stress and burnout.
Counseling has been used with other professionals suffering
from burnout, resulting in reductions in emotional exhaustion
and job stress (Isaksson Ro et al., 2010). Relaxation treatment,
including breathing exercises, has also been used to address
burnout and its symptoms (Ospina-Kammerer and Figley,
2003). Stress reduction with mindfulness has shown reduced
burnout and perceived stress, using an uncontrolled design in
a corporate setting (Kersemaekers et al., 2018) and in a controlled
pilot study with teachers (Flook et al., 2013).
A widely studied stress reduction program is Transcendental
Meditation (TM) (Orme-Johnson and Barnes, 2013). It has been
employed in multiple clinical trials over the past several decades
(Rosenthal, 2011). A previous randomized controlled study
found reduced emotional exhaustion, perceived stress, and
depression in teachers practicing TM (Elder et al., 2014). This
is the first randomized controlled study to investigate the effects
of meditation with teachers on both burnout and resilience.
METHOD
Overview
This study used a randomized controlled design with 78
teachers and staff who participated in a school wellness
program to improve emotional wellbeing. Participants were
assigned to either meditation (n 39) or wait-list control (n 
39) groups. Participants completed baseline measures (prior
to the intervention period) and again after four months. The
primary outcome of the study was change in teacher burnout,
as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Secondary
outcomes included resilience, perceived stress, and mood
disturbance.
Participants
Seventy-eight teachers and other school staff volunteered to take
part in a professional development program, offered at one high
school and two middle schools in the same United States West
Coast school district. Following informational sessions, where
prospective participants were provided details of the professional
development program and evaluation procedures, those
interested were randomly assigned to one of two treatment
conditions: meditation (immediate start) or wait-list control
(delayed start) stratified by school site. Control participants
were eligible to learn meditation following completion of
the study.
Treatment Group
Instruction in meditation was conducted over five 1-h sessions.
Participants were encouraged to practice the technique at home
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Valosek et al. Meditation and Teacher Burnout

twice a day for 20 min. Subjects attended regular follow-up group
meetings with their instructor every other week for the duration
of the four-month study.
Control Group
Subjects in the wait-list control group continued with their usual
daily routine throughout the four-month program. They were
then eligible to be instructed in meditation after completing four-
month posttesting.
Measures
Participants completed a battery of assessments at baseline prior
to meditation instruction. They were administered the same
battery approximately four months later.
Burnout
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach et al., 2010) was
used to measure participant burnout. The MBI is a 22-item
inventory with a seven-point response scale, measuring
emotional exhaustion (9 items), depersonalization (5 items),
and personal accomplishment (8 items). Respondents indicate
how often they experienced each statement on a seven-point scale
ranging from “Never”to “Every day.”Example items include “I
feel frustrated in my job,”“I worry that this job is hardening me
emotionally.”Higher scores on this scale indicate greater
burnout. Cronbach’s alphas range from 0.76 to 0.90 (Iwanicki
and Schwab, 1981;Maslach et al., 2010). Previous research has
shown the instrument to be sensitive to changes induced by
mind-body stress reduction practice (Goodman and Schorling,
2012).
Resilience
The Resilience Scale (Wagnild and Young, 1993)isasingle-
factor instrument that assesses emotional capability to cope
with stress and adversity. A 15-item version was used for the
study. For each item, participants rated how strongly they
agreed or disagreed with the statement (1 Disagree Strongly,
7Agree Strongly). Example items include “When I make
plans, I follow through with them,”“Iamfriendswith
myself,”and “I feel that I can handle many things at a
time.”Higher scores on the scale indicate stronger feelings
of resilience. In the current study, the Resilience Scale was
found to have high internal consistency at baseline (α0.93)
and follow-up (α0.95).
Perceived Stress
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983) is a 14-item
scale with a total score designed to assess the self-perception of
stress. Example items include “How often have you been upset
because of something that happened unexpectedly?”and “How
often have you felt nervous and stressed?”Responses took into
account the prior four weeks, using a 5-item response set (0–4),
ranging from “Never”to “Very Often.”Higher scores on the
perceived stress scale indicate a greater perceived presence of
stress. In the current study, the Perceived Stress Scale had high
internal consistency at baseline (α0.77) and follow-up
(α0.84).
Fatigue and Depression
The National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes
Measurement Information System (NIH PROMIS) fatigue (10-
item) and depression (8-item) scales were used as additional
secondary outcomes for physical health and mental health,
respectively (Broderick et al., 2013). In the current study, both
the depression and fatigue scales had high internal consistency
(Depression: baseline α0.91, follow-up α0.93; Fatigue:
baseline α0.94, follow-up α0.95).
Statistical Analysis
For all outcomes, data was analyzed using analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA), with adjusted mean change as the dependent
variable, treatment group as the independent variable, and
baseline dependent variable as the covariate. Intention-to-treat
with all 78 subjects was used for all analyses. Missing data was
imputed using last observation carried forward (LOCF), a
conservative method of imputing missing data in longitudinal
studies. Effect size (Cohen’sd) was determined by between-group
mean differences divided by pooled baseline standard deviation.
RESULTS
Baseline
The overall average age of the participants was 43.83 (SD 13.43),
with 67% being female. Eighty-one percent of the participants
were classroom teachers (with 19% being support staff). The
majority of participants were Caucasian (53%), followed by 22%
Asian, 3% Latino, 8% African American, and 14% other.
The only significant difference between groups was found on
the MBI depersonalization scale (p0.03). No other significant
differences were found between groups on demographic and
baseline measures (see Table 1).
Outcomes
Results showed significant reductions on the primary outcome of
the study, emotional exhaustion, the main scale of the Maslach
Burnout Inventory (MBI), for the meditation group compared to
controls [F (1, 75) 5.73, p0.019, d0.44]. Additional analysis
did not show a significant interaction effect with school location,
TABLE 1 | Demographic characteristics and baseline Scores by group.
Variable Control
mean (SD)
TM mean (SD) pValue
Age 42.08 (12.68) 45.74 (14.13) 0.255
Female (%) 26 (66.7%) 26 (66.7%) 0.999
MBI Emotional exhaustion 23.82 (11.86) 28.00 (12.17) 0.129
MBI Depersonalization 7.38 (5.99) 8.08 (7.4) 0.651
MBI Personal
accomplishment
38.87 (5.69) 35.31 (8.57) 0.033
Resilience scale 83.02 (13.87) 83.64 (11.63) 0.830
Perceived stress scale 24.00 (8.35) 26.38 (7.51) 0.189
NIH PROMIS fatigue 26.08 (7.79) 28.31 (8.41) 0.228
Depression 17.46 (5.22) 17.92 (5.98) 0.718
Note. TM: n 39; Control: n 39; SD Standard Deviation; MBI Maslach Burnout
Inventory, NIH PROMIS National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes
Measurement Information System.
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Valosek et al. Meditation and Teacher Burnout

indicating that teachers at the various school locations had similar
benefits on emotional exhaustion [F (1,72) 0.61, p0.55].
Changes on other MBI scales were in the predicted direction but
did not reach statistical significance: depersonalization [F (1, 75)
0.590, p0.445] and personal accomplishment [F (1, 75) 
1.04, p0.311].
Analysis of other secondary outcomes showed significant
reductions for the meditation group compared to controls on
perceived stress [F (1, 75) 14.808, p<0.001, d0.61]; fatigue [F
(1, 75) 11.12, p0.001, d0.56]; and depression [F (1, 75) 
2.94, p0.091, d0.29] and a significant improvement in
resilience [F (1, 75) 6.4, p0 .014, d 0.35]. (See Table 2).
A significant relationship was observed between change in
emotional exhaustion and change in resilience (r −0.33, p
0.003). For the other secondary variables, change in emotional
exhaustion was associated with change in perceived stress (r 
0.504, p<0.001), change in fatigue (r 0.44, p<0.001), and
change in depression (r 0.37, p<0.001).
Treatment Fidelity
Compliance with the meditation program was defined as
meditating at least once a day on average. Eighty-seven percent
(n 34) reported practicing meditation at least once a day on
average, with 38% (n 15) meditating twice a day on average.
DISCUSSION
Results from this study showed significant improvement in
emotional exhaustion (the main factor in burnout), resilience,
perceived stress, fatigue, and depression for those practicing
meditation compared to controls. These findings are consistent
with previous research on this meditation practice (Sheppard
et al., 1997;Elder et al., 2014;Wendt et al., 2015;Nidich et al.,
2018;Valosek et al., 2018).
A possible mechanism for how this mind-body meditation
program reduces burnout is by decreasing physiological
overactivation. Research has shown that the TM program
reduces psychological and physiologic responses to stress
factors, as evidenced by decreased sympathetic nervous
system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
activity, including elevated cortisol levels (Barnes et al.,
2001;MacLean, et al., 1994;Jevning et al., 1996). Recent
brain imaging research further shows that areas of the brain
related to arousal exhibit less activation during the practice
(Mahone et al., 2018).
Further, meditation has been linked to positive emotional
well-being and behavior, which may be a buffer to burnout. Prior
research on this mind-body program has shown increased
resilience, improved mood, including happiness and optimism,
positive coping ability, interpersonal relationships, and self-
actualization (Alexanderet al., 1991;Nidich et al., 2009;Wendt
et al., 2015;Valosek et al., 2018). In this study, change in resilience
was associated with change in emotional exhaustion on the MBI,
after controlling for baseline emotional exhaustion (beta 
−0.277, p0.006).
The findings have important implications for schools
throughout the United States and in other countries.
Emotional exhaustion is held as an important contributing
factor to teacher attrition (Leung and Lee, 2006;Skaalvik and
Skaalvik, 2010), which is a growing and costly concern
(Haynes, 2014). Roughly half a million United States
teachers either move or leave the profession each year,
costing government up to $2.2 billion annually. Schools
located in high poverty areas are especially affected, with a
teacher turnover rate 50 percent higher than the rate in more
affluent schools (Haynes, 2014).
Teacher burnout is also suggested to negatively impact student
academic performance (Reyes et al., 2012), due to decreasing levels
of commitment to students, lack of teacher preparedness, and
teacher absenteeism (Jacobson, 2016). Increased absenteeism
brings about a cascade of events resulting in students learning
from less qualified substitute teachers, and eventually leads to
higher teacher attrition, as cited above (Jacobson, 2016). The
emotional climate of schools further suffers as teachers
experience burnout and other emotional problems, which
impacts student engagement and learning (Anderson and
Iwanicki, 1984;Brackett et al., 2010;Reyes et al., 2012).
Programs for promoting emotional wellness and health in
teachers and building healthy emotional climates, which are
associated with positive student learning, are often missing from
teacher training and professional development programs (Reyes
et al., 2012). The results of this randomized controlled trial
indicate that Transcendental Meditation may be an effective
evidence-based program that can reduce teacher emotional
exhaustion and other psychological distress factors, and increase
TABLE 2 | Between-group comparisons of study outcomes.
Variables Control group adjusted
mean change
(CI 95%)
TM group adjusted
mean change
(CI 95%)
pvalue Effect size
MBI Emotional exhaustion −0.68 (−3.77, 2.41) −5.96 (−9.05, −2.88) 0.019 0.44
MBI Depersonalization −0.63 (−2.09, 0.83) −1.42 (−2.89, 0.04) 0.445 0.12
MBI Personal accomplishment 0.24 (−1.59, 2.07) 1.58 (−0.25, 3.41) 0.311 0.18
Perceived stress −0.75 (−2.53, 1.02) −5.63 (−7.41, −3.86) <0.001 0.61
Resilience 0.86 (−1.63, 3.35) 5.34 (2.85, 7.83) 0.014 0.35
Fatigue −0.67 (−2.60, 1.27) −5.26 (−7.19, −3.33) 0.001 0.56
Depression −1.35 (−2.69, −0.04) −2.95 (−4.27, −1.64) 0.091 0.29
Note. TM: n = 39; Control: n = 39; adjusted mean change score (confidence interval 95%), covaried for baseline dependent variable; Effect size Cohen’sd.
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Valosek et al. Meditation and Teacher Burnout

resilience. Importantly teachers were able to adhere to program
practice on a daily basis, indicating the feasibility of implementing
this mind-body program in a school in-service teacher program.
Study strengths include a randomized controlled design, with
subjects allocated to either immediate start of meditation or wait-
list control groups. Compliance with the meditation program was
high. Due to constraints on administration and funding of the
project and study, it was not possible to have an active treatment
control group. Future research should be encouraged to use time
and attention controls. The generalizability of study results is
limited to staff who would be interested in participating in a
meditation program. Future research should further investigate
effects of stress reduction on long-term effects of school staff
behavioral and physical health, such as obesity, alcohol use, blood
pressure, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors.
CONCLUSION
This was the first study to investigate the effects of a teacher
development program with meditation on both burnout and
resilience, two important factors related to overall mental
health. The results of this study indicate that Transcendental
Meditation may provide an effective antidote to the psychological
distress experienced by teachers and is a significant facilitator of
resilience, the ability to cope with obstacles and challenges in
one’s life. Based on findings from the current study and previous
research, teachers could benefit from a meditation-based in-
school teacher development program.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
ETHICS STATEMENT
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and
approved by the San Francisco Unified School District-Research,
Planning, and Assessment Department. The patients/participants
provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
LV: principal investigator SW: data analysis, interpretation of data,
writing of paper JL: study design, writing of paper AA: data analysis,
interpretation of data, writing of paper JH: interpretation of data and
writing of paper JG: study design, interpretation of data, review of
paper RN: study design, interpretation of data, writing of paper ML:
literature review, review of paper SN: study design, data analysis,
interpretation of data, writing of paper.
FUNDING
This project was funded by the Metta Fund and the David Lynch
Foundation, NY, both 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.
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Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
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Frontiers in Education | www.frontiersin.org March 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 6279236
Valosek et al. Meditation and Teacher Burnout