The presence of therapy dogs in schools has increased due to the growing body of research showing positive effects of assisted-animal interaction. But there is little published research on how an innovation such as a therapy dog connects to best practices in middle level education. The goal of the research was to use the Diffusion of Innovation…

Educators' high levels of stress have been well documented in existing literature, though little research has directly looked at comparisons of stress experiences and needs for support based on school level. The present study included 33 teachers (19 elementary and 14 middle school) from one school district who participated in semistructured…

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between self-esteem in secondary school students and coping strategies. This study was carried out with 523 participants from the 6th, 7th and 8th grades of two secondary schools in Aydin. The 292 participants were female students and 230 male students. Of the applicants, 157 are in 6th…

This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention program. Merging data from 128,544 youth participants in 21 states between 2009 and 2021, this study compared self-reported levels of knowledge, skills, and internal and external assets before and after the program. Youth reported significant increases…

Stress impedes a students' ability to learn. This includes learning concepts in the academic realm, but also socially, emotionally, and culturally as well. This study took place in a K-12 school in rural North Dakota with a student population of under 200 children. The focus of this research was to find out more about stress and emotional…

Background: Research has shown that students experience less stress in physical education (PE) than in other school subjects; some even find it stress-relieving. Nevertheless, there is a substantial group of students who regularly experience stress in PE. Knowledge of stressors and the attributes of different coping strategies to deal with those…

We adapted the Family Check-Up Online (FCU-O): 1) to support families coping with pandemic-related stressors to prevent behavioral and emotional problems among middle school youth, and 2) for smartphone delivery to increase access and reach during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluated the direct and indirect effects of the adapted FCU-O at…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how middle school teachers in the Southwestern United States described the role of coping strategies in their decision to remain in the teaching profession, specifically focusing on emotion-focused and problem-focused strategies. Lazarus and Folkman's theory of stress and coping and…

This qualitative study explores lower secondary school students' experiences with components of a universal school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention in relation to coping with academic stress. The intervention aimed at promoting the following five social and emotional competencies (SEC): relationship skills, emotional…

The purpose of this study was to understand how middle school teachers cope with trauma. Case studies were employed with four middle school teachers. The findings from this study illuminated the unique experiences of rural middle school teachers. These findings highlight significant gaps in how teachers are supported and respond to stress and…

Introduction: The study aimed to explore teachers' general working conditions, job demands and resources, and teachers' general well-being in four middle schools in the Southeastern U.S during COVID-19. Methods: The methodology for this study was qualitative. The sampling strategy was purposeful and comprised 15 educators. The data were collected…

The ESCAPE curriculum model was developed to enhance emotional awareness and behavioral support for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to help with stressful events and escape from emotional distress. The instructional phases represent an emotion regulatory process: starting with emotional and behavioral awareness, followed by…

Math anxiety levels directly and negatively impact student performance in the math classroom. Educators must work to implement instructional strategies that effectively reduce math anxiety and improve student math performance. This study evaluated mastery learning interventions as an effective tool for reducing math anxiety among middle school…

School noise is a serious, inevitable problem that teachers experience as stress or strain. Coping styles have a huge impact on teachers' mental health and therefore might influence this daily stress experience. Based on the stress-strain model and the transactional stress model, we examined in an online study how 99 teachers with different coping…

This year-long qualitative study follows a new teacher, who had self-identified as a 'positive person', through her first year in the classroom to explore the ways in which she maintained that disposition in the face of the difficulties that the work of teaching entails. Using a lens of emotion states and traits, we catalogued several different…