Meditative Education, a Methodology for Self-care of University Scholars

Abstract

Introduction: Within the organizational culture, the university professor is a key agent for the achievement of learning, coordinating daily the requests of the subjects and majors, together with the students' needs. For this reason, teaching is one of the professions with the highest risk of experiencing stress, as well as anxiety and depression. In order to reduce these factors, programs have been created for teachers with various activities that promote self-care.

Objective: To demonstrate the effectiveness of the Meditative Education Program of the Isha Judd System in reducing the levels of stress, depression and anxiety in teachers of the School of Health Sciences of the Universidad Autónoma de Chile.

Methods: Ten face-to-face workshops were conducted by facilitators of the Isha Judd System. The participants were divided into three groups that met on Mondays, at different times (n = 22). The meetings were held every 15 days, each session was divided into six moments. In the first and last session, Beck's Depression and Anxiety Test, Rossemberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and the Isha Judd System wellbeing survey were applied.

Results: The stress level of the group decreased by 7.2 points, going from moderate to low, the depression level decreased significantly, as did the anxiety values, reaching mild and minimal. The level of self-esteem was initially in the high range and at the end it remained in the same range, but the average score improved by 1.88 points.

Conclusion: In those teachers who met the minimum requirements of the program, this methodology had a positive impact on their satisfaction, improving on average their levels of stress, anxiety, depression and self-esteem. This study has limitations due to the number and type of sample, so a second stage is suggested.