Mental Health, Spirituality, and Self-Compassion Among K–12 Music Teachers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

We examined the influence of gender, age, and death of loved ones due to COVID-19, race/ethnicity, mode of instruction (hybrid, in-person, etc.), general religiosity, dispositional spirituality, and self-compassion among kindergarten through 12th-grade (K–12) music educators (N = 637) in order to assess how these factors impacted their mental health approximately 1 year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate a weak to moderate influence on mental health attributable to religiosity and spirituality, with feelings of connection to a higher power predicting better mental health while feelings of connection to other human beings and nature predicting the opposite. Additionally, there was a strong and statistically significant relationship between self-compassion and positive mental health, accounting for between a .87 to 1.09 decrease in stress, depression, and anxiety among participants based on one-unit increases in self-compassion. We discuss implications for music education research as well as preservice and in-service professional development based on these findings.