Reducing teachers’ perceived stress through an online wellbeing intervention: the role of socio-emotional competence and self-efficacy

TL;DR

An online wellbeing course helped reduce teachers' stress by improving their self-efficacy and emotional skills.

Contribution

The study shows that online interventions can effectively reduce teachers' stress through self-efficacy improvements.

Findings

The OWC group showed significant gains in socio-emotional competence and self-efficacy.

Participation in the OWC led to reduced perceived stress compared to the control group.

Increased self-efficacy, not socio-emotional competence, mediated stress reduction.

Abstract

Teaching is a profession characterized by high emotional demands and exposure to multiple stressors, often leading to elevated levels of perceived stress. Self-efficacy and socio-emotional competence have been identified as key protective resources that enable teachers to cope more effectively with professional challenges. The present quasi-experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of an Online Wellbeing Course (OWC) in enhancing teachers’ socio-emotional competence and self-efficacy and reducing perceived stress.

A total of 151 in-service Italian teachers took part in the study, with schools randomly assigned to an experimental group (OWC; n = 72) or a control group (n = 79). Participants completed validated measures of perceived stress, socio-emotional competence, and self-efficacy at pre- and post-test.

Teachers in the OWC group reported significant improvements in socio-emotional competence and self-efficacy, as well as a reduction in perceived stress compared to the control group. Moreover, pre- to post-test gains in self-efficacy - but not socio-emotional competence - significantly mediated the relationship between participation in the OWC and reductions in perceived stress.

These findings provide empirical evidence for the effectiveness of online wellbeing interventions in supporting teachers’ psychological resources and reducing stress. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed.

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