Most of the educational interventions proposed so far in the field of mental well-being in education usually address just students. In this study, we focused on teachers as the Covid-19 pandemic reiterated the importance of their mental well-being during demanding times. We investigated whether neurofeedback (NF) training can increase optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and the ability to cope with stressful events, reflecting on the research literature that emphasizes these four factors, which affect the ability to be confident in dealing with uncertainty and distress.
Forty teachers aged 35-55 participated in the study. The test group took part in 12 NF training sessions, and the control group was not treated. Our findings indicate that compared to the control group, measures of optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and coping with stressful events improved significantly in the test group.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to test a mental welfare intervention program for teachers through NF. This study responded to a call to develop teacher intervention programs using physiological measurement and technological innovations to improve their mental health and allow them to cope better with stressful teaching conditions.