Playing Playfully to Overcome Adversity: A Telehealth-Based Group Teacher Training Program

Abstract

Teacher’s exposure to childhood adversity may lead to secondary stress compromising child–teacher interactions. Our telehealth-delivered teacher group program focused on play and playfulness in the classroom and stress management for teachers. Program manual and fidelity checklist were developed, and program’s fidelity was assessed through manual adherence and participants attendance and satisfaction. Five participants attended the program, and five occupational therapy students served as fidelity raters. Rater agreement levels confirmed that the checklist was sufficiently developed to capture the program’s essential elements. Follow-up interviews indicated that the program equipped participants with new skills and validated their existing knowledge/experience while offering tangible learning materials. Teachers’ stress can be mitigated by providing them with a safe space to learn skills to promote playfulness in the classroom and to share with and support each other. The manualization of our program and fidelity checklist can guide the development of similar interventions.