Positive expressive writing as a tool for alleviating burnout and enhancing wellbeing in teachers and other full-time workers

Figures & data

Figure 1. The flow of participants through each phase of the study.

Table 1. Baseline differences between teachers and non-teachers (raw scores) on each outcome variable

	Teachers	Non-Teachers	p
MBI Emotional Exhaustion	35.0 (14.3)	28.3 (10.6)	0.04
MBI Depersonalisation	12.4 (5.7)	11.3 (6.2)	0.49
MBI Personal Accomplishment	37.8 (8.1)	34.2 (10.4)	0.12
JSS Total	135.3 (32.6)	133.0 (29.6)	0.76
JSS Pay	14.4 (4.5)	12.1 (5.3)	0.06
JSS Promotion	12.9 (4.8)	12.2 (5.2)	0.53
JSS Supervision	17.3 (6.4)	18.0 (5.1)	0.60
JSS Fringe Benefits	14.3 (4.3)	13.7 (5.0)	0.65
JSS Contingent Rewards	14.2 (5.4)	14.2 (5.2)	0.99
JSS Operating Conditions	10.4 (3.8)	14.3 (4.1)	< 0.001
JSS Co-workers	18.0 (3.6)	16.2 (4.2)	0.07
JSS Nature of Work	18.7 (4.3)	17.1 (5.4)	0.19
JSS Communication	15.1 (4.6)	14.7 (4.4)	0.70
Trait Anxiety	23.1 (11.6)	21.5 (8.6)	0.54
Perceived Stress	18.4 (5.4)	17.6 (4.6)	0.49
Subjective Health	12.9 (9.8)	16.7 (15.3)	0.24

Table 2. Change scores between the two conditions on each outcome variable, for teachers and non-teachers. p values for the main effects of condition and group and the condition x group interaction are displayed

	Positive Writing			Neutral Writing			p values
	Teachers	Non-Teachers	Teachers	Non-Teachers	Condition	Group	Condition x Group
State Anxiety	−5.8 (6.0)	−2.7 (4.5)	−2.1 (4.3)	−1.2 (6.5)	0.05	0.14	0.42
MBI Emotional Exhaustion	0.7 (6.5)	−0.6 (4.1)	−2.9 (6.9)	0.1 (6.6)	0.35	0.56	0.17
MBI Depersonalisation	1.4 (4.5)	0.7 (4.3)	0.0 (3.3)	1.1 (6.1)	0.69	0.85	0.44
MBI Personal Accomplishment	1.0 (4.9)	0.4 (4.5)	1.0 (4.8)	0.9 (6.2)	0.84	0.77	0.81
JSS Total	3.0 (16.9)	1.4 (11.0)	4.9 (12.9)	−5.9 (10.2)	0.24	0.20	0.10
JSS Pay	0.6 (3.6)	0.9 (3.7)	0.3 (3.1)	−1.1 (3.2)	0.27	0.63	0.26
JSS Promotion	−0.5 (3.6)	1.1 (3.9)	1.4 (3.3)	−2.1 (3.8)	0.45	0.29	0.01
JSS Supervision	0.6 (3.4)	0.0 (3.3)	1.6 (4.0)	0.4 (2.2)	0.41	0.27	0.73
JSS Fringe Benefits	0.3 (2.7)	0.9 (2.7)	0.1 (3.2)	−1.4 (3.1)	0.09	0.56	0.16
JSS Contingent Rewards	2.0 (3.2)	0.9 (3.7)	0.3 (2.9)	−1.2 (1.7)	0.02	0.07	0.83
JSS Operating Conditions	0.1 (2.7)	1.1 (3.2)	0.1 (2.6)	−0.4 (2.8)	0.30	0.73	0.32
JSS Co-workers	0.0 (2.7)	0.4 (2.5)	0.5 (1.6)	0.0 (3.1)	0.98	0.98	0.48
JSS Nature of Work	0.4 (2.3)	0.1 (3.6)	0.5 (2.5)	−0.9 (2.5)	0.50	0.24	0.46
JSS Communication	−0.1 (2.9)	−0.4 (4.4)	0.2 (2.6)	0.7 (3.2)	0.40	0.88	0.63
Trait Anxiety	−0.5 (5.9)	−1.3 (5.1)	−3.1 (6.9)	−3.2 (5.4)	0.13	0.77	0.80
Perceived Stress	−1.7 (4.8)	−1.1 (5.7)	−4.1 (3.4)	−0.6 (4.6)	0.43	0.09	0.22
Subjective Health	5.3 (8.5)	4.7 (11.1)	4.7 (7.4)	6.7 (11.5)	0.76	0.77	0.60

Figure 2. Change scores for the teacher and non-teacher groups across the positive and neutral conditions for State Anxiety, JSS Promotion and JSS Contingent Rewards.