A well-being promotion program increases self-compassion, active coping and emotion regulation among providers who work with children and families.
A short mindfulness-plus-CBT course lifts self-compassion and coping in teachers and youth workers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lengua et al. (2025) ran a brief program called REAL Pro. It mixes mindfulness and CBT ideas.
One hundred ninety-three teachers and youth-service staff took it. They filled out surveys before, after, and a little later.
What they found
After the course, staff scored higher on self-compassion, emotion control, and active coping.
A small follow-up hinted that burnout might drop later.
How this fits with other research
Ozturk et al. (2025) pooled 15 studies and found big links: when parents of kids with NDDs grow self-compassion, their stress and depression fall. Lengua shows the same lever works for staff.
Cai et al. (2024) tested a five-week online self-compassion course with autistic adults. They also saw gains in emotion regulation, but some people felt worse at times. The staff in Lengua’s study had no harm reported, so delivery and support may matter.
Paris et al. (2021) surveyed special-ed staff and saw high burnout tied to low psychological flexibility. Lengua’s program gives one way to build that flexibility in real life.
Why it matters
You can run REAL Pro in one staff meeting block. It needs no big budget. Try it during in-service day or split across lunch breaks. Track self-compassion with the same short scale. If scores rise, you may see calmer rooms and fewer call-outs next month.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the effects of the REsilient Attitudes and Living for Professionals (REAL Pro) prevention intervention on the well-being of professionals who work with children and families. The program combines mindfulness and self-compassion practices with cognitive-behavioral tools that aim to promote improved stress management, emotion regulation and well-being, and was evaluated with early childhood (n = 87) and K-12 educators (n = 40), staff serving youth in out-of-school or after-school settings (n = 31), and medical providers (n = 35). Participants completed pre- and post-test assessments, reporting on measures of stress management (perceived stress, self-compassion), emotion regulation (dysregulation, active coping, denial), and well-being (flourishing, resilience, burnout, secondary trauma symptoms). Dependent sample t-tests were conducted, showing significant improvement from pre- to post-test in self-compassion, emotion regulation, active coping, and a trend toward increased resilience. Three-month follow-up in a small subset of the sample (n = 11) suggested potential delayed reduction in burnout and secondary trauma symptoms. Satisfaction surveys and qualitative data indicated high participant satisfaction with the program and that participants made use of and perceived benefits from the skills for themselves and their clients. The preventive intervention shows promise for providing professionals with tools for stress management and emotion regulation, with the potential for reducing burnout in providers working with children and families who tend to experience substantial work-related stress.
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 2025 · doi:10.1186/s12906-025-05043-1