Promising Findings that the Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators’ Program (CHIME) Strengthens Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Resources: An Iterative Study

• Published in: Early childhood education journal Vol. 51; no. 7; pp. 1291 - 1304
• Main Authors: Hatton-Bowers, Holly, Clark, Caron, Parra, Gilbert, Calvi, Jessica, Bird, Michael Yellow, Avari, Pearl, Foged, Jaclynn, Smith, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Altruism; Early childhood education; Early Childhood Teachers; Education; Educational psychology; Emotional regulation; Emotional Response; Evidence; Faculty Development; Intervention; Knowledge Level; Learning and Instruction; Metacognition; Mindfulness; Professional development; Program Effectiveness; Psychological Patterns; Self Management; Social & emotional learning; Sociology; Sociology of Education; Work Environment; Iterative development; Well-being; Early care and education; Professional development; Emotion regulation; Early childhood teachers' mindfulness
• ISSN: 1082-3301; 1573-1707
• DOI: 10.1007/s10643-022-01386-3

Findings suggest that an eight-week mindfulness compassion-based program, Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME), is a feasible professional development intervention for early childhood (EC) teachers to support their emotion regulation and psychological and workplace well-being. We offer preliminary evidence that learning about mindfulness, self-compassion, and social-emotional learning supports EC teachers in strengthening their knowledge and application of practices to be more mindful and less emotionally reactive and emotionally exhausted at work. In analyzing both EC teacher feedback and survey data from two pilot studies, there was promising evidence that participating in CHIME enhanced awareness of emotions and the development of strategies to manage emotions. As CHIME is further developed and refined it will be integral to have collaborative engagement and participation from EC teachers and programs to ensure that learning these practices are relevant, helpful, meaningful, and sustainable.