Abstract
ABSTRACT
Purpose. In response to heightened levels of stress and burnout experienced by faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of community college faculty members engaging in a regular mindful meditation practice to see whether they could enhance their emotional resilience and, consequently, reduce their personal levels of anxiety, stress, and burnout.
Theoretical Framework. The theoretical framework used for this study was the skills-based model of personal resilience (Baker et al., 2021). This model provided the necessary knowledge about skills that have been shown to be important in achieving improved resilience and positive outcomes when people are confronted with adversity.
Methodology. This study used a qualitative, phenomenological research design. This research design was appropriate for this study because I wanted to decipher the common meaning extracted from the experiences of several individuals participating in a mindful meditation practice and to observe the phenomenon of how mindful meditation affects personal levels of resiliency as well as personal levels of anxiety, stress, and burnout.
Findings and Conclusion. The results of this study showed that a mindful meditation practice can yield various benefits. The benefits that came about from engaging in this study’s practice included helping faculty members have more emotional resilience, being flexible in their thinking, being better able to balance demands in their lives, decreasing their personal levels of stress and burnout, reducing feelings of anxiety at work, and better coping with their work responsibilities. Recommendations. Researchers can further explore this topic by conducting qualitative and quantitative studies with the following populations: faculty members at different 4-year universities, managerial and classified staff at colleges and universities, and employees at other nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Also, qualitative and quantitative longitudinal studies can be conducted to explore the effect that mindful meditation over an extended period of time can have on individuals.