Teacher Anxiety Program for Elementary Students (TAPES): intervention development and proposed randomized controlled trial

Abstract

BackgroundExcessive student anxiety is a common problem that severely impairs short- and long-term academic functioning and increases teacher burden. Reducing student anxiety has been associated with improvement in educational functioning. Because anxiety manifests daily in the classroom, teachers are in an ideal position to identify and help students manage their anxiety. Unfortunately, teachers lack the knowledge and skills to support the learning of students with excessive anxiety. The Teacher Anxiety Program for Elementary Students (TAPES), a novel teacher-administered school-home collaborative intervention, was designed to address this gap.MethodsThis manuscript describes the protocol for developing and evaluating TAPES. Specifically, we present a description of: (1) the intervention and theoretical model; and (2) methods for the proposed randomized controlled trial comparing TAPES to a standard professional development seminar focused on reducing student anxiety.DiscussionPrimary aims examine the impact of the TAPES training on teacher knowledge and skill. Secondary aims examine the impact of TAPES on student outcomes. Exploratory aims will examine mediators based on our proposed theory of change. If effective, TAPES has the potential to directly benefit teachers (improving skills) and students (reducing anxiety and improving functioning).Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03899948. Registered on 28 March 2019.

Teacher knowledge of anxiety and use of anxiety reduction strategies in the classroom

“…Data for the current study were collected at baseline as part of the Teacher Anxiety Program for Elementary Students (TAPES; Ginsburg et al, 2019). TAPES is a 3-year study funded by the Department of Education to develop and compare two teacher trainings and culminates with a randomised controlled trial.…”

A comparison of two teacher trainings on student anxiety

“…The training was delivered by study staff. A detailed description of each of the five meetings can be found in Ginsburg et al (2019).…”

“…To further contribute to the literature on teacher training on mental health, we developed two teacher trainings as part of a larger study to examine the effects of a teacher-led home-school intervention for student anxiety (Ginsburg et al, 2019). Both trainings focused on the assessment of student anxiety and evidence-based intervention strategies for reducing anxiety that could be applied to students and in the classroom.…”

Tackling negative thinking in the classroom

“…It is no wonder as anxiety, which has historically been the most prevalent mental health disability, affecting up to 31.9% students in the United States, was compounded by the pandemic (Benton, Boyd, & Njoroge, 2021; Merikangas et al, 2010; Racine et al, 2021; Salari et al, 2020). However, few teachers receive any training in their teacher preparation programs in mental health and behavioral best practices (Ginsburg et al, 2019). By and large, teachers are left on their own to learn about the effects of anxiety on learning and behavior and to figure out how to address it in the moment.…”

“…Given that such a large percentage of students currently are suffering from anxiety, it is no longer realistic to send every struggling student to the care of the counselor or the psychologist. Teachers can learn targeted and easy-to- implement strategies to reduce the negative impact of anxiety on students, leading to improvements in their social-emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning (Ginsburg et al, 2019; Zee & Koomen, 2016).…”