IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i18p6450-d408974.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Positive Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Mental Health of Female Teachers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Alessio Matiz

    (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy)

  • Franco Fabbro

    (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
    Perceptual Robotics (PERCRO) Laboratory Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56010 Pisa, Italy)

  • Andrea Paschetto

    (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy)

  • Damiano Cantone

    (Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Anselmo Roberto Paolone

    (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy)

  • Cristiano Crescentini

    (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy)

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent public health measures were shown to impact negatively on people’s mental health. In particular, women were reported to be at higher risk than men of developing symptoms of stress/anxiety/depression, and resilience was considered a key factor for positive mental health outcomes. In the present study, a sample of Italian female teachers ( n = 66, age: 51.5 ± 7.9 years) was assessed with self-report instruments one month before and one month after the start of the Covid-19 lockdown: mindfulness skills, empathy, personality profiles, interoceptive awareness, psychological well-being, emotional distress and burnout levels were measured. Meanwhile, they received an 8-week Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation (MOM) course, through two group meetings and six individual video-lessons. Based on baseline personality profiles, analyses of variance were performed in a low-resilience (LR, n = 32) and a high-resilience (HR, n = 26) group. The LR and HR groups differed at baseline in most of the self-report measures. Pre–post MOM significant improvements were found in both groups in anxiety, depression, affective empathy, emotional exhaustion, psychological well-being, interoceptive awareness, character traits and mindfulness levels. Improvements in depression and psychological well-being were higher in the LR vs. HR group. We conclude that mindfulness-based training can effectively mitigate the psychological negative consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak, helping in particular to restore well-being in the most vulnerable individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessio Matiz & Franco Fabbro & Andrea Paschetto & Damiano Cantone & Anselmo Roberto Paolone & Cristiano Crescentini, 2020. "Positive Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Mental Health of Female Teachers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-22, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6450-:d:408974
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6450/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6450/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Malaysia: 2020 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Malaysia," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/057, International Monetary Fund.
    2. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Myanmar: 2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Myanmar," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/088, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Chiara Baiano & Isa Zappullo & the LabNPEE Group & Massimiliano Conson, 2020. "Tendency to Worry and Fear of Mental Health during Italy’s COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-8, August.
    4. Cuiyan Wang & Riyu Pan & Xiaoyang Wan & Yilin Tan & Linkang Xu & Cyrus S. Ho & Roger C. Ho, 2020. "Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-25, March.
    5. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Peru: 2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; Staff Statement and Statement by the Executive Director for Peru," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/003, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Chan-Young Kwon & Hui-Yong Kwak & Jong Woo Kim, 2020. "Using Mind–Body Modalities via Telemedicine during the COVID-19 Crisis: Cases in the Republic of Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Ugo Gentilini & Mohamed Almenfi & Ian Orton & Pamela Dale, 2020. "Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19," World Bank Publications - Reports 33635, The World Bank Group.
    8. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Italy: 2020 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Italy," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/079, International Monetary Fund.
    9. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Kuwait: 2020 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Staff Supplement," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/089, International Monetary Fund.
    10. International Monetary Fund, 2020. "Brazil: 2020 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Brazil," IMF Staff Country Reports 2020/311, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Cristina Mazza & Eleonora Ricci & Silvia Biondi & Marco Colasanti & Stefano Ferracuti & Christian Napoli & Paolo Roma, 2020. "A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valentina Gómez-Domínguez & Diego Navarro-Mateu & Vicente Javier Prado-Gascó & Teresa Gómez-Domínguez, 2022. "How Much Do We Care about Teacher Burnout during the Pandemic: A Bibliometric Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Juan Pablo Pizarro-Ruiz & Nuria Ordóñez-Camblor & Mario Del-Líbano & María-Camino Escolar-LLamazares, 2021. "Influence on Forgiveness, Character Strengths and Satisfaction with Life of a Short Mindfulness Intervention via a Spanish Smartphone Application," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Alessandra Accoto & Salvatore Gaetano Chiarella & Antonino Raffone & Antonella Montano & Adriano de Marco & Francesco Mainiero & Roberta Rubbino & Alessandro Valzania & David Conversi, 2021. "Beneficial Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training on the Well-Being of a Female Sample during the First Total Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Chan-Young Kwon, 2023. "Research and Public Interest in Mindfulness in the COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Era: A Bibliometric and Google Trends Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Kunal Desai & Pratibha Gupta & Priti Parikh & Alpa Desai, 2021. "Impact of Virtual Heartfulness Meditation Program on Stress, Quality of Sleep, and Psychological Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-10, October.
    6. Benita Wielgus & Witold Urban & Aleksandra Patriak & Łukasz Cichocki, 2020. "Examining the Associations between Psychological Flexibility, Mindfulness, Psychosomatic Functioning, and Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Path Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, November.
    7. Bu Zhong & Lola Xie, 2023. "Making “Joy Pie” to Stay Joyful: Self-Care Interventions Alleviate College Students’ Mental Health Challenges," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Xiulan Cheng & Ying Ma & Jiaqi Li & Yonghui Cai & Ling Li & Jiao Zhang, 2020. "Mindfulness and Psychological Distress in Kindergarten Teachers: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-11, November.
    9. Tzofnat Zadok-Gurman & Ronit Jakobovich & Eti Dvash & Keren Zafrani & Benjamin Rolnik & Ariel B. Ganz & Shahar Lev-Ari, 2021. "Effect of Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction (IBSR) Intervention on Well-Being, Resilience and Burnout of Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amparo Ba'illo & Javier C'arcamo & Carlos Mora-Corral, 2021. "Extremal points of Lorenz curves and applications to inequality analysis," Papers 2103.03286, arXiv.org.
    2. Ankica Kosic & Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović & Nebojša Petrović, 2021. "A Cross-Cultural Study of Distress during COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Protective and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. J. Pierre Zila-Velasque & Pamela Grados-Espinoza & Naomi Coba-Villan & Jocelyn Quispe-Chamorro & Yesenia F. Taipe-Guillén & Estefany Pacheco & Laura Ccasa-Valero & Virgilio E. Failoc-Rojas & Cristian , 2022. "Mental Disorders and Level of Resilience in Eight High-Altitude Cities of Peru during the Second Pandemic Wave: A Multicenter Population-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Stefania Scuri & Marina Tesauro & Fabio Petrelli & Ninfa Argento & Genny Damasco & Giovanni Cangelosi & Cuc Thi Thu Nguyen & Demetris Savva & Iolanda Grappasonni, 2022. "Use of an Online Platform to Evaluate the Impact of Social Distancing Measures on Psycho-Physical Well-Being in the COVID-19 Era," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-10, June.
    5. Lucía del Río-Casanova & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & Ana García-Dantas & Anabel González-Vázquez & Ania Justo, 2021. "Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. José Pais-Ribeiro & Alexandra Ferreira-Valente & Margarida Jarego & Elisabet Sánchez-Rodríguez & Jordi Miró, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal: Psychosocial and Health-Related Factors Associated with Psychological Discomfort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    8. Juan Gómez-Salgado & Montserrat Andrés-Villas & Sara Domínguez-Salas & Diego Díaz-Milanés & Carlos Ruiz-Frutos, 2020. "Related Health Factors of Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Daniela Marchetti & Roberta Maiella & Rocco Palumbo & Melissa D’Ettorre & Irene Ceccato & Marco Colasanti & Adolfo Di Crosta & Pasquale La Malva & Emanuela Bartolini & Daniela Biasone & Nicola Mammare, 2023. "Self-Reported Mental Health and Psychosocial Correlates during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from the General Population in Italy," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-7, June.
    10. Mohammad Farhan Al. Qudah & Ismael Salamah Albursan & Heba Ibraheem Hammad & Ahmad Mohammad Alzoubi & Salaheldin Farah Bakhiet & Abdullah M. Almanie & Soltan S. Alenizi & Suliman S. Aljomaa & Mohammed, 2021. "Anxiety about COVID-19 Infection, and Its Relation to Smartphone Addiction and Demographic Variables in Middle Eastern Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, October.
    11. Eriona Thartori & Concetta Pastorelli & Flavia Cirimele & Chiara Remondi & Maria Gerbino & Emanuele Basili & Ainzara Favini & Carolina Lunetti & Irene Fiasconaro & Gian Vittorio Caprara, 2021. "Exploring the Protective Function of Positivity and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy in Time of Pandemic COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Annunziata Romeo & Agata Benfante & Lorys Castelli & Marialaura Di Tella, 2021. "Psychological Distress among Italian University Students Compared to General Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-8, March.
    13. Fang-Yi Tsai & Hannah Schillok & Michaela Coenen & Christina Merkel & Caroline Jung-Sievers & on behalf of the COSMO Study Group, 2022. "The Well-Being of the German Adult Population Measured with the WHO-5 over Different Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis within the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring Study (COSMO)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-27, March.
    14. Anna Maria Cybulska & Katarzyna Głębicka & Marzanna Stanisławska & Aneta Cymbaluk-Płoska & Elżbieta Grochans & Kamila Rachubińska, 2023. "The Relationship between Social Support and Mental Health Problems of Peri- and Postmenopausal Women during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-14, January.
    15. Liang Zhao & Yukun Zhao & Yiwen Wu & Xiaojun Ding & Feng Yu & Kaiping Peng, 2022. "Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic upon Chinese Positive Traits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Manuel Maciel-Saldierna & Emmanuel Elizondo-Hernández & Gabino Cervantes-Guevara & Enrique Cervantes-Pérez & Guillermo Alonso Cervantes-Cardona & Bertha Georgina Guzmán-Ramírez & Irma Valeria Brancacc, 2022. "Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Junior High School Students in Guadalajara, Mexico: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-10, November.
    17. Agnes Y. K. Lai & George O. C. Cheung & Asa C. M. Choi & Man-Ping Wang & Polly S. L. Chan & Angie H. Y. Lam & Esther W. S. Lo & Chia-Chin Lin & Tai-Hing Lam, 2022. "Mental Health, Support System, and Perceived Usefulness of Support in University Students in Hong Kong Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, October.
    18. Maria Rosaria Gualano & Giuseppina Lo Moro & Gianluca Voglino & Fabrizio Bert & Roberta Siliquini, 2020. "Effects of Covid-19 Lockdown on Mental Health and Sleep Disturbances in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-13, July.
    19. Yiyi Chen & Ye Liu, 2021. "Which Risk Factors Matter More for Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Application Approach of Gradient Boosting Decision Trees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Maria Pia Riccio & Melissa Borrelli & Maria Teresa Fioretti & Margherita Del Bene & Carmela Bravaccio & Marco Poeta & Francesca Santamaria, 2020. "Is Quarantine for COVID-19 Pandemic Associated with Psychological Burden in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-13, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6450-:d:408974. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.