Preliminary Investigation of the Sources of Self-Efficacy Among Teachers of Students with Autism.

The team sent a short survey to the teachers who work with kids with autism. They asked how sure the teachers feel about teaching these kids. They also asked how often the teachers feel stressed, get praise, or have past wins.

The survey used four quick scales. One measured stress and mood. The others measured praise from bosses, past teaching wins, and overall confidence.

Only stress level linked with teacher confidence. Teachers who felt calm rated themselves as more effective. Praise from bosses and past wins did not predict confidence at all.

The link was medium-strong. Stress explained about 20 percent of the differences in confidence.

Reichow (2012) shows that early ABA programs boost child IQ and daily skills. Those child gains could give teachers more wins to celebrate, yet Hattier et al. (2011) found past wins did not lift teacher confidence. The two papers do not clash; they simply look at different sides of the same coin—child progress versus staff feelings.

Chan et al. (2025) cut parent stress with a short mindfulness course and saw better parent mood and child behavior. Their stress-to-mood path mirrors the teacher stress-to-confidence path seen here. Together, the studies hint that lowering adult stress may be a common lever for better outcomes for kids with autism.

Tamm et al. (2024) trained school staff to run executive-function groups and saw small student gains. Their staff felt more capable after the training, showing that targeted skill building can lift teacher confidence. Hattier et al. (2011) did not test any training, so the survey leaves open whether teaching new skills would trump stress as a confidence booster.

If you supervise teachers, track their stress first. A quick mood check each week takes two minutes and predicts who feels ineffective. Pair stressed teachers with easier schedules, mindfulness moments, or brief breaks before tackling new ABA tactics. Child gains matter, but adult calm may unlock their confidence to use those gains.