Effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation on Pre-service Teachers’ Attitudes towards Including Students with Autism: The Role of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Enhancing teachers’ attitudes towards including students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are crucial for successful inclusive education. The current study, guided by self-determination theory, examined the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on teachers’ attitudes towards including students with ASD. Pre-service teachers (n = 65) were randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group. The results showed that the mindfulness meditation did not improve pre-service teachers’ attitudes but their basic psychological needs satisfaction. In addition, mindfulness had an indirect effect on attitudes through needs satisfaction. These findings could be used for improving teaching preparation for inclusive education.

KEYWORDS:

• Awareness
• educator
• inclusive education
• self-determination theory
• special education needs

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Education University of Hong Kong [RG 86/2016-2017R].