[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”black” style=”shadow” border_width=”2″][vc_column_text]S.A.S. Kaushalya Perera1<\/sup>, Jeevani Herath2<\/sup>, S.D. Amarasuriya3<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n 1<\/sup>Faculty of Education, Open University of Sri Lanka <\/em><\/p>\n 2<\/sup>Faculty of Education, University of Colombo <\/em><\/p>\n 3<\/sup>Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo3<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n This study investigates the role of mindfulness meditation in enhancing teachers’ immunity to workplace stressors through a two-phase research design. Phase I utilizes a narrative case study approach to explore the experiences of skilled meditator teachers, aiming to understand how regular meditation practice influences their responses to professional stressors. Five participants, selected through purposive sampling, will provide data via background questionnaires, narrative frames, and in-depth interviews, which will be analyzed through narrative and thematic analysis. Phase II employs a phenomenological action research approach to assess the impact of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) on teacher immunity. Ten teachers will participate in an eight-week MBI, with data collected through background questionnaires, narrative frames, journals, and hermeneutic interviews. This phase aims to document changes in participants’ responses to stressors before, during, and after the intervention, analyzed using phenomenological methods. The study adheres to ethical guidelines ensuring participant autonomy, confidentiality, and minimization of harm, contributing to a deeper understanding of mindfulness as a tool for enhancing teacher resilience in stressful educational environments.<\/p>\n Keywords: <\/em>Teacher immunity, Meditation, Workplace stressors<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n The profession of teaching is considered to involve constant daily exposure to stressors. However, while some teachers seem to adapt to the demands of their profession positively and thrive in their profession, others appear to experience adverse effects of exposure to the same types of demands, such as depression, burnout, and somatization. This also results in a considerable level of teacher turnover as well. Recent exploratory studies on the construct of second language (L2) teacher immunity provide a theoretical lens for studying the dynamics of the development of such disparities among teachers (Hiver, 2015a; Hiver, 2015b; Hiver, 2016, Hiver, & D\u00f6rnyei, 2015). According to Hiver (2016, p. 179), teachers’ \u201cmaking sense of their experiences\u201d affects their teacher identity formation and the nature of their immunity to the demands of the profession.<\/p>\n The educational context of the Sri Lankan government school system underscores the challenging nature of embarking on and persisting in the profession of teaching, which has the potential to result in teacher demotivation, stress, and burnout. Some typical issues faced by teachers in this context include those related to the act of teaching (e.g.-handling large classes with 40-45 students and lack of resources for teaching), professional relationships (e.g., lack of supportive relationships with colleagues), professional development (e.g.-unavailability of adequate opportunities for teachers\u2019 professional development and lack of a culture of engaging in reflective practice by way of conducting classroom-based research), and administration (e.g., difficulty in obtaining transfers) (Rustha & Wazeema, 2017; Cirocki et al., 2014; Hettiarachchi, 2013). As such, there is a need to study interventions that effectively support teachers in the Sri Lankan government school system in coping with the demands of their profession.<\/p>\n Research into teacher psychology suggests the need to raise teachers\u2019 awareness of the emotional demands of the profession through various strategies, such as teacher training programs and providing social support at the workplace.\u00a0 This would help teachers cope with those demands and develop emotion regulation skills, enhancing their commitment to teaching (Kinman et al., 2011; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).<\/p>\n Research on the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on teachers testifies that such interventions help teachers encounter the demands of their profession with increased self-efficacy and a sense of well-being, improve their relationship with students, and develop the quality of their classroom teaching practice (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Meiklejohn et al., 2012).<\/p>\n As such, the proposed study seeks to explore the impact of mindfulness meditation on teacher immunity to workplace stressors. Personal motivation for this study presented itself from the researcher\u2019s experience of working with and educating Sri Lankan school teachers who, according to her observation, differ from one another in terms of how they respond to the challenges they face in their professional setup; these responses, in turn, seem to influence their motivation, commitment as well as attitudes towards teaching and, in the long run, their professional development. Therefore, the proposed study explores the impact of regular mindfulness meditation practice on teacher immunity to workplace stressors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Teacher Immunity to Workplace Stressors<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiver (2016) theorizes that the development of a psychological construct in language teachers is termed \u201csecond language teacher immunity,\u201d which supports teachers’ survival in their profession in the face of daily encounters with chronic and acute stressors at work. Drawing on complexity theory, Hiver (2016) illustrates that the development of teacher immunity takes place in a process consisting of four stages: triggering, linking (also known as coupling), realignment, and stabilization. During the triggering stage, a disturbing stimulus (e.g., a disagreement with one\u2019s Sectional Head) causes a state of disequilibrium in the teacher\u2019s motivational comfort zone. This is followed by the linking stage when the teacher strategically responds to the state of disequilibrium so that s\/he may move in a safe direction (e.g., seeking the advice of a peer). The next stage is realignment when the teacher can reflect on the disturbance and control it to achieve equilibrium. This leads to the fourth stage of the process, i.e., stabilization, when the teacher internalizes the residue of the above type of experience as part of his\/her professional identity, which will affect how s\/he reacts to future disturbances. Thus, it is evident that the developmental process of teacher immunity to workplace stressors is intertwined with teachers\u2019 informal learning and professional development. In addition, this metaphorical immunity to workplace stressors encompasses teaching efficacy, burnout, resilience, attitudes to teaching, openness to change, classroom affectivity, and coping Hiver (2016, p. 154).<\/p>\n According to Hiver (2016), there are two global types of teachers regarding the nature of their teacher immunity: the productively immunized and the maladaptively immunized. Productively immunized teachers are \u201cthose with a robust yet healthy form of teacher immunity.\u201d In contrast, maladaptively immunized teachers are defined as \u201cthose with a rigid and counterproductive form of teacher immunity\u201d (p. 186). In his study, Hiver (2016) also proposes that positive narrative constructions (tolerance narratives, congruence narratives, and exploratory narratives) have the potential to change the nature of teacher immunity to workplace stressors by way of re-configuring\/re-stabilizing their teacher narratives towards a more adaptive immunity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Need for Supporting Teachers through Interventions<\/strong><\/p>\n Research into teacher psychology suggests the need to raise teachers\u2019 awareness of the emotional demands of the profession through various strategies, such as teacher training programs, providing social support at the workplace to cope with those demands, and developing emotion regulation skills in teachers, enhancing their commitment to teaching (Kinman et al., 2011; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meditation as a Possible Intervention<\/strong><\/p>\n Meditation has been practiced in various cultural contexts with a variety of aims since the times of the flourishing of human civilizations (e.g., yoga mediation in Hindu culture, Qigong in Chinese Taoism, contemplative meditation in Christian culture, Zazen or Zen Buddhist meditation from Japan and Vipassana meditation in Theravada Buddhism). In the Buddhist tradition, the word \u201cBhavana\u201d (roughly equivalent to the English word \u201cmeditation\u201d) stands for \u201cmental culture\u201d or \u201cmental development\u201d (Rahula, 1978, p. 68). Buddhist meditation claims to have a wide range of techniques meditation involving a variety of subjects of meditation such as the breath, sensations, and the mind, as well as ethical, spiritual, and intellectual subjects (e.g., the Five Hindrances of lustful desires, ill-will or hatred, torpor, and languor, restlessness, and worry, and skeptical doubts).<\/p>\n Recently, there has been a growing interest in Buddhist meditation as an activity that enhances people\u2019s quality of life and well-being. This is evidenced in modern trends around the world, such as the rapid development of international meditation centers in Thailand where tourists can get trained (Schedneck, 2015), \u201cthe spread of meditation practices among the urban gentry\u201d in Sri Lanka (Uyangoda 2007, p. 1) and publication of numerous guidebooks on Buddhist meditation from across the globe such as those by Kornfield (2010), Yates, Immergut, and Graves (2015) and Analayo (2010).<\/p>\n There is also an ever-increasing interest in using Buddhist meditation as a strategy to improve the quality of human life and interactions. Hence, there are many studies on meditation’s effect on employees’ well-being, workplace relationships, and work performance. For example, Ulluwishewa, Uthumange, Weerakoon, & Perera (2020) discuss how vipassana meditation can be practiced enhancing work performance, efficacy, productivity, and work satisfaction of employees as well as positive qualities such as compassion, honesty, tolerance, and sharing, which promote inter-relationships among employees of a workplace. Likewise, Shonin, Gordon, Dunn, Singh, & Griffiths (2014) report on a randomized control trial conducted to assess the effects of a Buddhist-derived mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) program of eight weeks duration where the participants were middle-level managers working in different organizations in the U.K. Findings of the study show “significant and sustainable improvements” in the participants of the experimental group (n=152) in work-related stress, job satisfaction, psychological distress, and employer-rated job performance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Concept of Mindfulness in Buddhism<\/strong><\/p>\n Closely related to meditation in the Buddhist tradition is the concept of sati<\/em>, which, according to Nyanatiloka (1998, p. 165), roughly corresponds with the English term ‘mindfulness.’ Rahula (1978, p. 69) shows the relationship between the two concepts as follows: “Whatever the form of meditation may be, the essential thing is mindfulness or awareness (sati<\/em>), attention or observation (vipassana).” Thus, it is evident that meditation, in the Buddhist sense, is the development of mindfulness together with awareness, attention, and observation, which are also interrelated concepts.<\/p>\n The term ‘sati’ <\/em>occurs in various categorizations of concepts in Buddhism. For instance, it is one of the five spiritual faculties (indriya) and powers (bala), the other faculties and powers being confidence, energy, concentration, and wisdom, according to Analayo (2010) and Nyanaponika (2005, p. 24), sati <\/em>balances and monitors the other faculties and powers. ‘Sati’ <\/em>is also an “awakening factor” (Analayo, 2010, p. 50) or “Factor of Enlightenment” (Nyanaponika, 2005, p.24) (mojang). It constitutes the foundation for the other awakening factors, i.e., investigation of dhammas, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration, and equanimity (Analayo, 2010, p. 51; Nyanaponika, 2005, p.24). Moreover, as a factor of the noble eightfold path, ‘Samma sati’ <\/em>(right mindfulness) monitors the other path factors, i.e., right view, proper thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right concentration (Analayo, 2010, p. 50). Thus, it is apparent that, from a Buddhist perspective, it plays <\/em>a crucial role in developing the mind.<\/p>\n Having studied the occurrence of the term sati <\/em>in various categorizations in the Buddhist scriptures, it is also imperative to arrive at a definition of the term to construct a clearer understanding of the concept. Sati <\/em>is defined in various ways in various instances. According to Analayo (2010), it is defined as “that which facilitates and enables memory” (p.47), “present moment awareness” (p.48), and “a broader awareness of circumstances and of their interrelations” (p. 64) in various contexts in the Buddhist discourse. These definitions provide a primary picture of the concept of sati <\/em>akin to awareness.<\/p>\n However, a second definition builds on these basic definitions to include an element of virtuousness as an essential characteristic of mindfulness. Thus, according to Nyanaponika (2005, p. 3), apart from basic definitions related to \u201cmemory\u201d and \u201cawareness,\u201d sati <\/em>also denotes \u201ca kind of attentiveness that, in the sense of the Buddhist doctrine, is good, skilful or right (kusala).\u201d Similarly, Nyanatiloka (1998, p. 165) defines sati in these terms: \u201cin its widest sense, one of those mental factors inseparably associated with all karmically wholesome (kusala) and karma-produced lofty (sobhana) consciousness.\u201d As such, the concept of mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition can be defined as a wholesome and lofty spiritual faculty or power that lays the foundation for the \u2018awakening\u2019 factors in the path to enlightenment and enables one to retain one\u2019s present moment awareness while keeping in perspective a broader sense of awareness of circumstances and their interrelations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Concept of Mindfulness in the West<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Western world, the concept of mindfulness has gained access to several disciplines, such as psychology, counseling, and education. The term \u201cmindfulness\u201d is used in specific terminology such as mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and mindfulness training (MT) in these areas of study. In psychopathology, mindfulness meditation refers to a \u201cfamily of practices, adapted from contemplative traditions to a secular context, which focuses on reducing distraction and enhancing awareness of mental experience\u201d (Wielgosz et al., 2019, p. 307). Researchers on the impact of mindfulness in educational settings define the concept as \u201ca particular kind of attention characterized by intentionally focusing on the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude\u201d (Jennings & DeMauro, 2017, p. 319). Knoblock (2017, p. iii) observes that these very aspects of \u201cacceptance\u201d and \u201cnon-judgement\u201d embodied in the Western conceptualization of mindfulness are critiqued, and, as a result, the practice of mindfulness training programs in school settings is also criticized due to the understanding that those aspects \u201cseem to conflict with the goal of doing one\u2019s best in the classroom and differentiating between right and wrong.\u201d However, Purser (2015) criticizes the Western conceptualization of mindfulness as \u201creduced to a form of \u2018mental fitness\u2019 conducted in isolation\u201d and states that a secular practice of mindfulness needs to be viewed as \u201ca collective practice, that which unites people towards acting for the common good, which in turn provides the basis for human flourishing and social transformation\u201d (p. 43).<\/p>\n Flook et al. (2013) report on the effect of a randomized controlled pilot trial of a modified MBSR course on psychological distress, mindfulness and self-compassion, burnout, and teacher classroom behavior. Results of the study showed a significant reduction in the level of burnout, improvements in classroom organization, and an increase in self-compassion in the intervention group. They conclude that mindfulness practices can be adopted as \u201ca tool for enhancing teaching quality, which may, in turn, promote positive student outcomes and school success\u201d (p. 190). Reporting on the effect of an 8-week MBSR intervention on teacher stress, Gold, Smith, Hopper, Herne, Tansey, & Hulland (2010) also recommend it as \u201ca cost-effective method to combat teacher stress and burnout\u201d (p.184).<\/p>\n Franco et al. (2010) report on a quasi-experimental study conducted to examine an MT program’s efficacy in reducing teachers’ psychological distress. Results indicated a significant reduction of three general measures of psychological distress\u2014i.e., Global Severity Index, Positive Symptom Distress Index, and Positive Symptom Total\u2014in the experimental group. In addition, a follow-up study conducted four months after the intervention’s end also confirmed the results’ sustenance in the experimental group.<\/p>\n In their systematic review of the impact of mindfulness on the well-being and performance of educators, Lomas, Medina, Ivtzan, Rupprecht, and Eiroa-Orosa (2017) reviewed 19 empirical papers published up to January 2016. The research studies were examined mainly for possible outcomes such as burnout, anxiety, depression, stress, and positive well-being measures. The key finding of the review was that mindfulness was generally associated with positive outcomes in most of these measures.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Methodology<\/strong><\/p>\n The proposed study will be conducted in two phases: Phase I will be a narrative case study on skilled meditator teachers\u2019 immunity to workplace stressors; Phase II will be conducted as a phenomenological action research on the impact of a mindfulness-based intervention on teacher immunity to workplace stressors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phase I<\/strong><\/p>\n Research Design<\/strong><\/p>\n Phase I is proposed to be conducted as a narrative study as it would allow the researchers to co-construct, together with each participant, a \u2018storied\u2019 understanding of the nuances of their teacher immunity to workplace stressors and the impact of mindfulness meditation in shaping their immunity. According to Clandinin (2016), narrative inquiry is both a research methodology and phenomenon that \u201ccomprises a view of experience as composed and lived over time, as studied and understood as a narrative phenomenon and as represented through narrative forms of representation\u201d (p. 15). Thus, it is expected that conducting Phase I as a narrative case study would allow for an in-depth study of the participants’ experiences from an emic perspective.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Research Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n Drawing on the theoretical construct of teacher immunity to workplace stressors, the proposed study addresses the key research question of how the regular practice of meditation impacts teacher immunity to workplace stressors. This fundamental research question will be investigated in Phase I of the study in terms of the following sub-questions:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Participant Recruitment<\/strong><\/p>\n Prospective study participants for Phase I will be selected through purposive sampling. They will be recruited based on pre-determined selection criteria: i.e., being regular meditators since at least three years ago, being teachers with a minimum of five years of experience working permanently in a Sri Lankan government school, and not being on long-term leave from work at the time of data generation. Participant recruitment will be preceded by an intake interview (Outschoorn., et al., 2019) administered by the researcher to identify skilled meditators. This interview focuses on aspects about the duration of the prospective participant\u2019s meditation practice and details of his\/her meditation practice (e.g., place, technique, and posture of meditation), state of peripheral awareness and stable attention, state of alertness and emotional stability, as well as information which would help develop a possible intervention for the phenomenological action research proposed to be conducted as Phase II of the study. Table 1 gives an overview of the minimum requirement expected from a prospective participant to be recruited to Phase I, including the above aspects.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Table 1<\/strong><\/p>\n Recruitment Criteria of the Intake Interview<\/em><\/p>\n Five voluntary participants who fulfill the above criteria will be informed of Phase I of the study. Once recruited, each participant\u2019s written consent will be obtained for using the data for research purposes under a pseudonym. In addition, it will be informed that any participant is able to withdraw from the study at any time without any unfavorable consequences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Data Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n During Phase I of the study, data will be generated through three data collection instruments: a background profile questionnaire, a narrative frame, and a semi- structured interview schedule. The data will be generated in Sinhala and translated into English before analysis.<\/p>\n The background profile questionnaire will be administered after the participant recruitment for Phase I. This questionnaire consists of 17 items, with both open- ended and closed-ended questions, which mainly focus on participant demographic data and details of their professional context. In addition, each participant will be prompted to mention a pseudonym of his\/her choice on the background profile questionnaire, which will be used throughout the research process to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of data.<\/p>\n After obtaining the background profile data of each participant, s\/he will be given a narrative frame, which consists of a \u201cwriting frame\u201d for him\/her to reflect on an episode in which s\/he encounters a workplace stressor. The narrative frame aims to elicit participants\u2019 narrations of such an incident, emphasizing what workplace stressors they encountered, how they responded to it, and what perceived impact the entire experience had on themselves as teachers. The narrative frame will be used to \u201censure that the content will be more or less what is expected (and required to address the research aims) and that it will be delivered in narrative form\u201d (Barkhuizen & Wette, 2008, pp. 375-6). Each participant will record two narrations over two weeks, with roughly one narration per week. The narrated episodes should be those that take place within those two weeks or a few days before those weeks.<\/p>\n The semi-structured interview schedule serves a dual purpose. The generated data will help construct \u201ca vivid picture of the world of the participants,\u201d which is central to qualitative research reporting (Holloway, 2005, p. 270), especially in the narrative genre. Thus, the interview will elicit each participant\u2019s career history and the history of his\/her mindfulness meditation practice. These narrative data are expected to provide the contextual background for analyzing data in line with the research questions. The in-depth interview will also focus on the workplace stressors that skilled meditator teachers encounter, how they respond to them, and the perceived impact of their regular mindfulness meditation practice on their responses to stressors at work. This interview will be conducted after collecting data using the background profile questionnaire and the narrative frame to use the data emerging from them as points of departure during the interview. In advance, the participants will be informed of the critical points discussed at the interview to prepare to share their experiences with the interviewer. These interviews will be audio recorded and transcribed verbatim.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Table 2<\/strong><\/p>\n Data collection in Phase I, in line with the research questions<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em> <\/p>\n Analysis of Data<\/strong><\/p>\n This study’s data analysis will follow the qualitative research tradition. Phase I, in particular, will involve narrative analysis.<\/p>\n The data collected through the background profile questionnaire will primarily be used to construct \u201cvignettes\u201d of the participants of the study \u201cin order to give a clearer and more intimate picture of who they are\u201d (Herath, 2015, p. 130). It is expected that this will contribute to ensuring the \u201creader generalizability\u201d of this qualitative study, i.e., help readers \u201cdetermine the extent to which findings from [the] study can be applied to their context\u201d (Merriam, 2002, pp. 28-9). The data generated through the other research instruments will also be incorporated in constructing the participant vignettes. In addition, the data from the background profile questionnaire will also be used to interpret data generated through the other data sources.<\/p>\n The data elicited through the narrative frame will mainly address the research question of how skilled meditator teachers respond to encounters with stressors in their professional practice. These data will be analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis. This approach to data analysis will be used since \u201cmuch of the categorizing of the data into themes is already achieved because of the structure of the [narrative] frame\u201d (Barkhuizen, 2014, p. 18). The process will involve qualitative data coding to identify themes, define each theme, and interpret patterns among the themes.<\/p>\n The in-depth interview transcript will be translated from Sinhala to English before being analyzed. The translation will be analyzed using theory-driven and data-driven codes, adopting a thematic analytical approach. The process of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, as illustrated by Corbin and Strauss (1990), will be used for the research questions. The interview data will also be analyzed by summarizing the narrated events according to a temporal sequence to construct the narrative of each participant\u2019s career history and the history of his\/her meditation practice. The data generated through the other two research instruments will also be incorporated into this narrative account.<\/p>\n Answers to intake interview questions 29 and 30 will be analysed in terms of themes emerging from them. The findings will be used, together with input from mindfulness meditation experts, to develop a mindfulness-based intervention that would support teachers in developing a productive immunity to workplace stressors. Data generated through these two intake interview questions will also be triangulated with data from the in-depth interview schedule.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phase II<\/strong><\/p>\n Research Design<\/strong><\/p>\n Phase II will be a case study of teachers\u2019 experiences with a mindfulness-based intervention. As it seeks to construct a deeper understanding of the impact of a mindfulness-based intervention on the dynamics of teacher immunity to workplace stressors, this phase of the study will adopt a phenomenological stance regarding research methodology. It is expected that the phenomenological research approach, which \u201cemphasizes the importance of returning to psychological subject matter with an open attitude and evoking fresh, detailed descriptions that capture the richness and complexity of psychological life as it is concretely lived\u201d (Wertz, 2005, p. 176) best suits the proposed study.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Research Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n As mentioned earlier, the overarching key research question of the proposed study is how regular meditation practice impacts teacher immunity to workplace stressors. To investigate this phenomenon, the following sub-questions will be addressed during Phase II of the study:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Participant Recruitment<\/strong><\/p>\n Participants for Phase II will be selected through convenience sampling. They will be recruited based on pre-determined selection criteria: i.e., being teachers with a minimum of five years of experience working permanently in a Sri Lankan government school, not being on long-term leave from work at the time of data generation, not having practiced mindfulness meditation regularly prior to participation in the research study as well as willingness and ability to commit to participating in a mindfulness-based intervention of eight week\u2019s duration. Ten teachers who fulfill the above criteria will be recruited as participants in Phase II. Once recruited, each participant will be provided with information on the purpose of the study, how data are generated and used, how they will be stored, how the findings will be published, the identity of the principal researcher and her institutional affiliation, the supervisors\u2019 names and professional affiliations and the funding body of the research study. Further, the participants will be informed that their participation in the study is voluntary and may withdraw at any stage without any unfavorable consequences. These will be communicated to the potential participants both in writing (using an Information Sheet) and verbally, in understandable language. Subsequently, each participant\u2019s written consent will be obtained to use the generated data for research purposes under a pseudonym.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Data Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n Phase II of the study will involve data generation through multiple sources: a background profile questionnaire, an in-depth interview eliciting life-history narratives of each participant, a narrative frame, participants\u2019 journals on the intervention, hermeneutic interview with each research participant and the researcher\u2019s study diary consisting of observational field notes and reflections. Notes in the researcher\u2019s study diary will be generated in English. The data from the other sources will be generated in Sinhala language and translated into English for analysis.<\/p>\n The background profile questionnaire used for Phase II will be the same as the one used during Phase I of the study. It mainly focuses on participant demographic data and details of their professional context. According to Finlay (2012, p. 22), \u201cany description of lived experience by participants needs to be seen in the context of that individual\u2019s life situation.\u201d Thus, it is expected that the data generated through the background profile questionnaire and those generated through the in- depth interview will help construct each participant’s personal and professional context.<\/p>\n Before the intervention, data will also be generated through a semi-structured in- depth interview schedule to elicit the life history narrative of each participant, focusing on his\/her career history and development as a teacher. It will also focus on the workplace stressors that the participants encounter and how they respond to them. This interview will facilitate the study’s data analysis by providing the contextual background for the findings. In addition, it is also expected that it will provide an overview of how each participant currently encounters workplace stressors. As characteristic of phenomenological research, the interviews are expected to generate \u201cconcrete descriptions of lived situations, often first-person accounts, set down in everyday language and avoiding abstract intellectual generalizations\u201d (Finlay, 2012, p. 21). These interviews will be audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Subsequently, the transcripts will be member-checked\u2019 before being translated to English in preparation for analysis, i.e., participants will be provided \u201cwith opportunities to check the accuracy of, expand, amend and comment on, raw data\u201d (Brear, 2018, p.1).<\/p>\n A narrative frame, which provides a narrative structure for each participant to reflect on an episode in which s\/he encounters a workplace stressor, will be used to elicit participants\u2019 narrations of such an incident with particular emphasis on what specific workplace stressor they encountered, how they responded to it and what perceived impact the entire experience had on themselves as teachers. The narrative frame will be used five times during Phase II, i.e., once before the intervention, three times during the intervention (generating one narrative each during the third, fifth, and seventh week of the intervention), and once just after the mindfulness-based intervention, thus generating five episodes from each participant on five of their encounters with workplace stressors, each of which they will have experienced within the limit of a week by the time they write down the episode. Together with data generated through other means, this will help pinpoint the impact of mindfulness-based intervention on teacher participants.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Table 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Data collection in Phase II, in line with the research questions<\/em><\/p>\n During the mindfulness-based intervention, participants will be asked to maintain a journal on their experience of the MBI based on guidelines provided by the researcher, which will primarily focus on (i) how the meditation session started and what the participant felt in the beginning (ii) particular moments of the guided meditation sessions that were important\/memorable to him\/her and why they were important (iii) what came to his\/her mind while meditating (iv) the sensations of the body during the guided meditation (v) what s\/he did, say and think during the guided meditation session and (vi) what other important things happened at the session. For this purpose, the researcher will provide a book format. The participants will be asked to write their notes weekly, with each entry made immediately after each guided meditation session, thus generating data on their \u201cprereflective experience\u201d (van Manen, 2016, p. 27) of participating in the MBI. They may also make additional reflective notes about the aspects in the guidelines at any other time of their own will.<\/p>\n At the end of the eight-week mindfulness-based intervention, a hermeneutic interview will be conducted with each participant to explore how the participants experienced their participation in the mindfulness-based intervention and the impact of the intervention on how they respond to workplace stressors. As a hermeneutic interview seeks to interpret already generated data rather than generate new data, details of the hermeneutic interview will be discussed under \u2018Analysis of Data\u2019 under this Phase.<\/p>\n Rapport (2005, p. 134) illustrates the importance of researchers keeping a \u201cstudy diary\u201d when conducting hermeneutic analysis: [Di]aries focus the mind not only on the story being told, the semantic expression but also on the emotive qualities of data collection and the mantic expression, which offer a more holistic view of experience.<\/p>\n As the researcher, I will maintain a study diary throughout the research process in Phase II, journaling accounts of my ongoing research activities, observational field notes during the intervention, including those on the mindfulness-based intervention, my reflections on the intervention as a participant, and its impact on myself as a teacher as well as reflections on the data analysis. This journal is expected to provide both data and preliminary analytical notes on the data. Thus, the study diary will help both to \u201ctriangulate the findings of my study\u201d and to \u201cmake the research analysis more transparent\u201d (Herath, 2015, p. 122).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Analysis of Data<\/strong><\/p>\n The data analysis in this study will follow the qualitative research tradition. Phase II of the study will particularly involve phenomenological analysis of data. Also known as \u201cinterpretive-descriptive phenomenology\u201d (Van Manen, 2016, p. 26), hermeneutic phenomenology is defined as \u201cthe science of interpretation of texts, whereby language, in its written or spoken form, is scrutinized to reveal meaning in phenomena\u201d (Rapport, 2005, p. 125).<\/p>\n The data collected through the background profile questionnaire and those generated through the in-depth interview will primarily be used to construct portrayals of each participant in the backdrop of his\/her personal and professional context.<\/p>\n Data from the in-depth interview will also be analyzed to understand how the participants respond to encounters with stressors in their professional practice before the intervention. For this purpose, the transcriptions of the relevant parts of the interview (as translated into English) will be selected for analysis. \u201cThe selective or highlighting approach\u201d used to uncover the thematic aspects of a phenomenon (van Manen, 1990, pp. 9-3) will be used in analyzing these excerpts. The data will be triangulated with those generated through the narrative frame administered before the intervention.<\/p>\n The data elicited through the narrative frame will be analyzed in order to explore how the participants respond to encounters with stressors in their professional practice before, during, and after the mindfulness-based intervention. Each episode generated through the narrative frame will be analyzed using two hermeneutic phenomenological approaches \u201cthrough which themes\/lived meanings of the [participant\u2019s] experiences are elucidated\u201d (Nielsen, 2012, pp. 163-4). These two approaches are \u201cthe wholistic or sententious approach\u201d and \u201cthe selective or highlighting approach\u201d (Van Manen, 1990, pp. 92-3). In the wholistic approach, a text is read or listened to as a whole, and a \u201csententious phrase\u201d that \u201cmay capture the fundamental meaning or main significance of the text as a whole\u201d is formulated (p. 93). In the selective approach, a text is read or listened to several times. Statements or phrases that appear to be \u201cparticularly essential or revealing about the phenomenon or experience being described\u201d are taken note of (P. 93). Further, the episodes narrated before, during, and after the intervention will be analyzed to make sense of the changes that may take place, parallel to the intervention, in the manner in which each participant responds to workplace stressors. Subsequently, the findings will also be used to explore the impact of participation in the intervention on their response to encounters with workplace stressors.<\/p>\n Data from the participants\u2019 journals will also be analyzed through a combination of the holistic approach and the selective approach mentioned above to construct an understanding of each participant\u2019s experience of the mindfulness-based intervention.<\/p>\n The hermeneutic interview will be used to interpret the data that each participant has already generated. According to Van Manen (2016, p. 317), hermeneutic interviews aim to \u201cexplore the ways that fundamental phenomenological notions and methods can be understood.\u201d The hermeneutic interview in the present study will be conducted as a \u201cdata interpreting interview [that] seeks assistance in the interpretation of the empirical data (lived experience accounts)\u201d generated during Phase II through the other data collection tools. In other words, this interview will help the researcher revisit her preliminary analysis of data with each participant.<\/p>\n The study diary maintained throughout the research process in Phase II, journalling accounts of the ongoing research activities, observational field notes taken during the intervention, my reflections on the intervention as a participant and its impact on myself as a teacher, and reflections on the data analysis. It is expected that this journal will provide both data and preliminary analytical notes on the data, thus providing grounds for \u201cthe smooth progression from data collection to data analysis and study findings [\u2026] through group analysis, note taking and self- reflection\u201d (Rapport, 2005, p. 143).<\/p>\n Overall, the data generated during Phase II of this study will be analyzed in line with the steps illustrated by van Manen (2016, p. 320), i.e., converting lived experience descriptions to anecdotes, submitting the anecdotes \u201cto the holistic and selective [\u2026] thematizations\u201d and conducting \u201cphenomenological reflective writing\u201d based on the themes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ethical Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n Adhering to ethical principles is a significant concern that should be addressed, especially in qualitative research. It is necessary to protect human participants from potential harm caused by their participation in a particular study. In this regard, the broad principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice should be considered (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020).<\/p>\n To ensure that the autonomy of the research participants is protected, they should be able to exercise their “capacity for intentional action” and “freedom from controlling influences” (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 50). Thus, the participants of the present study will be informed of the purpose of the study, how data are generated and used, how they are stored, how the findings will be published, the identity of the principal researcher and her institutional affiliation, the supervisors’ names and professional affiliations and the funding body of the research study. Further, the participants will be informed that their participation in the study is voluntary and that they can withdraw at any stage without any unfavorable consequences. These will be communicated to the potential participants in writing (using an Information Sheet) and verbally in understandable language. Further, after these communications, their written consent to participate in the study voluntarily will be obtained using a Consent Form. However, it would be further emphasized that “the informed consent process does not end when the study subject has given their consent but continues throughout the research process” and “participants always have the right to withdraw their consent at any time” (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 51). A participant’s autonomy is also closely linked with protecting their privacy and confidentiality. In this sense, it is “a researcher’s duty to protect the personal information that participants have shared with them” (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 52). To safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of the participant’s information, the audio-recorded interview data will be transcribed verbatim and stored in folders created for each participant in a password- protected computer; moreover, all people’s names will be replaced with pseudonyms; place names and other information which are likely to lead to the identification of participants will be anonymized. In addition, where necessary, specific data that would lead to the identification of the participants will be omitted, “guaranteeing confidentiality at the expense of some of the data’s richness” (Squire, 2008, p. 36).<\/p>\n Observing the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence stands for the researcher’s responsibility to maximize “potential benefits” and minimize “detrimental effects” to the research participants (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 53). As a qualitative study involving the generation of narrative and phenomenological data that elicits participants’ ‘lived experiences,’ it would be essential to make sure that their involvement in the study will not cause them any “psychological, emotional, and social harm” (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 53). This will be ensured by “avoid[ing] traumatizing the participants by asking them “to retell unpleasant and distressing experiences and memories” (Herath, 2015, p. 126) unless they initiate narrating them on their own accord about the questions asked of them and are comfortable with continuing the narration. Furthermore, it is expected that “planning the study in a scientifically valid and feasible way” would also help to ensure conformity to the principle of non-maleficence (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 53). To meet this end, the data collection tools will be pilot-tested by the researcher and reviewed by an education specialist and a psychology specialist. Additionally, potential risks to participants will constantly be monitored and assessed during the research process to adhere to the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence.<\/p>\n Abiding by the ethical principle of justice, all individuals will be \u201ctreated fairly and equally\u201d (Pietil\u00e4 et al., 2020, p. 53). The ethical practices illustrated above will be applied to all the research participants equally to ensure their well-being while ensuring the scientific rigor of the study. Especial care will also be taken to minimize \u201cquestions of power\u201d between the researcher and the participants (Hayes, 2010, p. 67); in this case, the possibility that the researcher (being a teacher educator) will be viewed as a dominating figure by the participants of the study, who are teachers by profession. Further, a member-checking process will be<\/p>\n adopted for the in-depth interview data to ensure fair and equal treatment of participants. The term \u201cmember checking\u201d refers to \u201cthe process of providing research participants with opportunities to check the accuracy of, expand, amend and\/or comment on, raw data or research results\u201d (Brear, 2018, p.1). In the present study, member checking will be conducted at the raw data level on each participant\u2019s in-depth interview transcripts. It is expected that this will serve several purposes: i.e., ensuring \u201caccuracy of descriptions,\u201d identifying data that would \u201cthreaten [participants\u2019] interests\u201d (Miles et al., 2014, p.68, 72), \u201cgiving [more] voice\u201d to the participants (Hayes, 2010, p. 67) and \u201cestablishing more equitable researcher-researched relationships\u201d (Brear, 2018, p.1).[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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