Happy Teacher Wellness Intervention

The purpose of the proposed project, the Happy Teacher Wellness Intervention, is to develop, implement, and evaluate a multifaceted, tiered center-wide intervention designed to improve a targeted set of Early Head Start/Head Start (referred to as HS hereafter) staff working conditions (e.g., various job stressors and resources), as well as multiple facets of HS staff well- being and competence in urban, rural, and tribal nations/settings in Oklahoma. 

We consider both teachers (i.e., lead teacher, assistant teacher) and leaders (e.g., director, instructional coach) as staff for this study. Well-being (or wellness, used interchangeably in this proposal), defined as judging life positively and feeling good (Center for Disease Control, 2018), is a multidimensional and often subjective construct that includes the presence of positive feelings, the absence of negative feelings, satisfaction with life, fulfillment, and positive functioning. Our multidimensional definition of well-being includes physical, psychological, and professional well-being (Kwon et al., 2020a). For teacher competence outcomes, we will examine improvement in relationships with children, use of social emotional teaching strategies, and classroom quality; for leader competence outcomes, we will measure improvement in management and leadership skills. 

To address concerns with HS workforce well-being as outlined in the ACF program RFA, the proposed project, the Happy Teacher Wellness Intervention, will introduce a multifaceted, tiered center-wide intervention designed to improve a targeted set of HS staff (both teachers and leaders) outcomes by providing increased support to achieve optimal working conditions. 

The proposed ten-week intervention model and subsequent evaluation research design build on a modified version of the Whole Teacher Well-being Framework developed by the Happy Teacher Project (Kwon et al., 2020; 2021). Via a cluster randomized control evaluation study design, we will examine the individual and additive effects of the tiered interventions, which are delivered in three distinct level, on HS staff well-being and competence as well as retention and child outcomes. The content of the intervention will address P3 (physical, psychological, and professional) well-being for HS staff and their competence in supporting children’s social emotional development with an emphasis on supporting children experiencing trauma (for teachers) and leadership and management skills (for leaders).