Managing Workplace Stress in Adult Education Lecturers: The Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Objectives: Workplace stress is a significant mental health concern that affects teachers, with attendant consequences on students’ academic performance, and yet only little empirical research has been conducted on this area in sub-Saharan Africa. The study therefore assessed the efficacy of mindfulness intervention in addressing workplace stress among adult education lecturers in Nigeria. Methods: Following a mixed-methods approach, pre-post-test and follow-up survey data, snowballing and purposive sampling techniques were used to recruit 365 lecturers for the survey (Phase 1) and 26 lecturers for the controlled experiment (Phase 2). The study variables were measured with psychometrically robust scales: Daily Stressor Scale and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-SF). Results: Overall, 248 (67.9%) male lecturers and 117 (32.1%) female lecturers participated in the study, with ages ranging from 34 to 65 years with an average age of 47.13 (SD = 8.54). We found 56.7% prevalence of workplace stress and mindfulness levels significantly and inversely correlated with workplace stress. Further, introducing or exposing lecturers to modified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (mMBSR) significantly reduced workplace stress, whereas the control group showed no significant reduction in workplace stress. Conclusion: The conclusion was reached that mMBSR demonstrated its clinical importance and usefulness in mitigating workplace stress prevalent among lecturers. The study findings indicate the importance of enhancing lecturers' awareness for the need of positive coping and adjustment, as well as becoming more emotionaly and socialy adept to their duties. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.