The effect of mindfulness-based stress management intervention on students' self-efficacy and optimism

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress management training on academic burnout, self-efficacy and students' optimism. The family is the cornerstone of human societies and plays a significant role in the strength of social relations and the growth of each individual in society. In this regard, efforts to strengthen the family and stabilize relationships within the family, firstly, the health and individual well-being of family members and secondly, improve the level of social health. The family institution as an institution that has long been considered by researchers in socializing and transferring basic life skills can have various functions, one of which is to raise healthy and efficient children. This function will be achieved if we have the necessary knowledge in the field of recognizing relationships and the impact of parental behavior on children's behavior and make appropriate decisions at the right time. It is important to have the right mindset. Mindfulness is a concept that in recent years, under the influence of Buddhist thought, has attracted the attention of psychologists, psychotherapists and researchers. Mindfulness is defined as the state of arousal and awareness of what is happening in the present moment. Mindfulness helps us to understand that negative emotions may occur, but they are not a permanent part of the personality. It also allows the individual to respond thoughtfully rather than respond to events involuntarily. Dort and Pinto-Gavia (2016) in a study examined the effect of mindfulness on adaptive behaviors and concluded that mindfulness has a significant effect on improving adaptive behaviors in personal and professional life. Carrots, Steinboon, Speaker, Rah and Van Schick (2016) have also reported similar results and have concluded that mindfulness has an effect on improving adaptive behaviors and reduces psychological problems. In this regard, psychologists have been using mindfulness for some time to reduce stress levels and stress management. Mindfulness-based stress management training teaches people to observe thoughts, feelings, and situations without judgment and not to act impulsively. Mindfulness-based stress management seeks to reduce stress and increase the level of psychological well-being of individuals. Therefore, mindfulness-based stress management training for parents can change the behavior of parents, which can affect the interaction of parents with students, as well as their behavior. So far, no coherent and significant studies have been conducted in this field that the researcher in this study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of stress management training based on mindfulness on academic burnout, self-efficacy and optimism of students. Self-efficacy, hope and optimism are three concepts that are closely related. All three of these structures are related to the expectations of achieving positive results in the future, and of course there are differences. Regarding hope and self-efficacy, Snyder (2002) stated that self-efficacy mainly refers to the expectation or expectation of a person who thinks he can do a certain activity, while hope is related to the expectations that a person has. He thinks he will achieve his goals. In line with this claim, Bandura (1977) compared self-efficacy with expectations of goal outcomes. In this regard, output and performance expectations are different, because people can believe that a particular action will produce certain results, but if they have serious doubts about whether they can take the necessary action. Such information does not affect their behavior. On the other hand, optimism is a kind of hope for the result. According to Snyder (2002), as opposed to hope and optimism, optimism is primarily expected to have positive results regardless of one's actions, while hope is explicitly about the expectations that are met. Positive results will occur through planning (directions) and motivation (authority) of the person. Shereer, Carver, and Bridge (2001) define optimism as "hopes that are generalized - hopes that are more or less relevant to one's entire living space."

This research is applied in terms of purpose and quasi-experimental in terms of method. The statistical population of the study included first year high school students in Tehran in the first semester of the 2018-2019 academic year and their parents, of which 30 students (15 as an experimental group and 15 as a control group) Together with their parents, they were selected as a study sample by multistage cluster random sampling. Among the experimental group, mindfulness-based stress management training based on Kabat Zayn (1970) training package was performed in 8 two-hour sessions and during this period, the control group did not receive any training. Data collection tools required for the study included Bresso et al.'s (1997) burnout questionnaire, Scherer et al.'s (1982) self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire, and a revised version of the life orientation test (LOT-R; Schier, Carver, & Briggs, 1994). Finally, after ensuring the normal distribution of research variables, the data obtained from the research questionnaires were analyzed using analysis of covariance.

The results showed that mindfulness-based stress management training has a significant effect on reducing the level of academic burnout and improving students' self-efficacy and optimism.

From the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that reducing the level of academic burnout and improving self-efficacy and optimism of students need to learn stress management skills based on mindfulness among parents. Mindfulness-based stress management seeks to reduce stress and increase the level of psychological well-being of individuals. Therefore, mindfulness-based stress management training for parents can change the behavior of parents, which can affect the interaction of parents with students, as well as their behavior. So far, no coherent and significant studies have been conducted in this field that the researcher in this study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of stress management training based on mindfulness on academic burnout, self-efficacy and optimism of students. Self-efficacy, hope and optimism are three concepts that are closely related. All three of these structures are related to the expectations of achieving positive results in the future, and of course there are differences. In general, it can be concluded that improving students' self-efficacy and optimism requires learning mindfulness-based stress management skills among parents. Therefore, it is appropriate for schools to improve the psychological factors in students by providing suitable conditions for the development of stress control based on mindfulness, planning and management at work.