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

Authors

Holly Hatton-Bowers, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Caron Clark, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Gilbert R. Parra, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jessica L. Calvi, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Michael Yellow Bird, University of ManitobaFollow
Pearl Avari, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Jaclynn Foged, Nebraska Extension
John Smith, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Holly Hatton‑Bowers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4165-791X

Date of this Version

2022

Citation

Published in Early Childhood Education Journal, 2022 doi:10.1007/s10643-022-01386-3

Comments

Copyright © 2022 the authors, under exclusive license to Springer Nature B.V. Used by permission.

Abstract

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.