Childhood traumatic experiences are a prevalent public health issue. Children exposed to trauma often exhibit behaviors that make educating them challenging. Preschool teachers at a southwestern United States preschool receive no training related to childhood trauma and resilience. The purpose of this project was to educate preschool teachers on trauma and resilience to improve attitude related to educating children with trauma.

Following Arizona State University Internal Review Board approval, preschool teachers were recruited from a non-profit metropolitan preschool. Project included two pre-training questionnaires (Adult Resilience Measure-Revised [ARM-R] and Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care scale [ARTIC]), one two-hour training via Zoom on childhood trauma and resilience, and post-training ARTIC questionnaire at two and six weeks.

Seven teachers (n=7) participated in pre-training questionnaires, and three of these teachers (n=3) participated in both post-training questionnaires. All participating teachers were female and Caucasian. Average age of participants was 49.43 years (SD=8.40, range 36-60), and experience average was 17.17 years (SD=10.15, range 3-30). AMR-R average score was 72.29 (SD=8.28, range 61-83). Pre-training ARTIC score average was 3.87 (SD=0.16). Post-training ARTIC scores at two weeks and six weeks post-training were 3.65 (SD=0.22) and 3.86 (SD=0.25).

Clinical significance included improved teacher awareness of childhood trauma and improved ability to interact with children exposed to trauma. Teachers exhibited high resilience scores. Additional research needed related to further address educating preschool teachers related to trauma informed care, related to building resilience in children, and related to the impact of teacher resilience on trauma informed care.

Keywords: teacher training, adverse childhood experiences, ACEs, childhood trauma, resilience

Research has shown adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have a lifelong negative impact on a person’s physical, mental, and social well-being. ACEs refer to experiences related to abuse, household challenges, or neglect that occur before the age of 18. Some of the effects of ACEs include anxiety, depression, increased stress, increase in high-risk behaviors, and early death. Mindfulness practices have been shown to be an effective tool in reducing some of these symptoms. In looking for ways to prevent or mitigate the effects of ACEs, it is important to provide tools and resources to the adults taking care of children including; parents, guardians, and teachers.

The purpose of this evidence based project (EBP) was to evaluate mindfulness and classroom environments after the implementation of a mindfulness intervention. The intervention consisted of a three day training followed by four weeks of mindfulness practice prior to beginning the school day. Ten preschool and Early Head Start teachers from seven classrooms at a school in inner city Phoenix participated in the project. Utilizing the Five Factors Mindfulness Questionnaire pre and post intervention, a paired sample t-test showed a significant increase in two factors of mindfulness. The CLASS tool was used to assess classroom environment pre and post intervention and showed significant improvement in five classes. These findings support ongoing mindfulness training and practice for preschool and Early Head Start teachers to improve classroom environments.