(Special Issue) A Study on the Effects of Emotional Cultivation Workshops on Teacher Emotional Regulation and Social-Emotional Well-Being
Author: Li-fei Wang (Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University / Social Emotional Education and Development Center, National Taiwan Normal University), & Yu-Ling Hung (Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University / Taitung County DaWang Junior High School), & Tzu-Yu Chen (Taipei Municipal Nei-Hu Junior High School), & Meifen Wei (Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, USA), & Chia-Lin Tsai (Social Emotional Education and Development Center, National Taiwan Normal University / Department of Applied Statistics and Research Methods, University of Northern Colorado, USA), & Dennis M. Kivlighan, Jr. (Social Emotional Education and Development Center, National Taiwan Normal University / Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education, University of Maryland, USA), & Shih-Chuan Wang (Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University / Social Emotional Education and Development Center, National Taiwan Normal University), & Chia-Yi Ho (Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University / Social Emotional Education and Development Center, National Taiwan Normal University)
Vol.&No.：Vol. 70, No. 3
Date：September 2025
Pages：99-131
DOI：https://doi.org/10.6209/JORIES.202509_70(3).0004
Abstract：
Introduction
As Taiwan’s education environment faces increasing challenges such as the pandemic, rapid policy shifts, and declining birth rates, teachers are experiencing increasing pressure, impacting their happiness, work engagement, and satisfaction. Surveys consistently reveal that Taiwanese teachers report higher stress levels and lower job satisfaction compared to international averages, highlighting a critical need for systemic support and targeted emotional interventions (e.g., Li & Chen, 2022; Wu & Chen, 2022). Given that teachers’ social-emotional well-being plays a pivotal role in reducing stress and burnout, enhancing teaching effectiveness, and promoting positive student outcomes, addressing their emotional needs has become an urgent educational priority.
In response to these challenges, the goal of current investigation was to develop and evaluate an Emotional Cultivation Group Intervention specifically designed for Taiwanese teachers. The intervention incorporated culturally grounded emotional cultivation strategies across four key domains– belief reframing, emotional consequence awareness, action control, and flexible emotional regulation (Wang et al., 2016, 2019)– and provided a safe, supportive environment for teachers to reflect, share experiences, and practice emotional skills. Through this intervention, this study sought to strengthen teachers’ emotional regulation competencies, decrease depression and negative affect, as well as, enhance their social-emotional well-being, thereby supporting their mental health, teaching performance, and professional sustainability.
Methods
A practical-oriented research design was employed, utilizing a quasi-experimental approach that compared an experimental group with a control group, with the experimental group further divided into in-person and online formats. After obtaining agreement and supports from two counties, a total of 286 primary and secondary school teachers were recruited, of whom 269 completed the study. The experimental group comprised 171 participants (36 attending in-person sessions and 135 participating online), while the control group included 98 participants. The experimental group engaged in a culturally sensitive 12-hour emotional cultivation workshop, whereas the control group received an individualized emotional strengths report after the study.
To examine the workshop’s effectiveness in real-world educational contexts, Mplus software was utilized with the Type = Complex specification to account for pretest covariates and group-level nesting effects. Six standardized instruments were employed to assess outcomes related to emotion regulation and social-emotional well-being, including the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) (Gross & John, 2003), Emotional Cultivation Scale (ECS) (Wang et al., 2019), Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS) (Sheldon et al., 2001), Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC) (McCullough et al., 2002), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule– Short Form (PANAS-SF) (Thompson, 2007), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) (Zhang, 2012). All instruments demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity, ensuring the robustness of the evaluation process.
The 12-hour emotional cultivation workshop, grounded in the BEAR (Belief-Emotion-Action-Result) model and culturally responsive strategies, was tailored for adult learners and emphasized experiential learning through emotion awareness, regulation techniques, reflective practices, and peer discussions. It was delivered either over two full days in-person or across four half-day online sessions, aiming to enhance teachers’ emotional regulation abilities and foster their social-emotional well-being through a semi-structured, interactive format.
Results
Preliminary analyses revealed that the experimental group initially scored lower than the control group in several key areas, including emotional cultivation, cognitive reappraisal, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and gratitude, as well as higher negative affect and depressive tendency. This suggests that participants were likely aware of their emotional challenges and were highly motivated to engage in the program.
Following the intervention, significant improvements were observed in the experimental group across various domains. Specifically, participants showed enhanced emotional regulation competencies (including cognitive reappraisal and emotional cultivation), decreased depression tendency and negative affect, as well as improved social-emotional well-being (i.e., increased satisfaction of psychological needs, greater gratitude, and higher positive affect) compared to the control group. However, expressive suppression did not show a significant change, consistent with prior research indicating its stability as a regulatory strategy.
Importantly, no significant differences were found between the in-person and online group formats, suggesting that both delivery formats were equally effective in enhancing teachers’ emotional competencies. Overall, the emotional cultivation workshops implemented in this study effectively enhance teachers’ emotional regulation and social-emotional well-being, thereby validating the hypotheses.
Discussion and Suggestions
These findings make important contributions to the growing literature on teachers' emotional regulation and social-emotional learning, providing evidence-based interventions with both academic and practical implications. The study demonstrates that the emotional cultivation workshop significantly enhances teachers’ emotional regulation strategies, particularly cognitive reappraisal and emotional cultivation, as well as their broader social-emotional well-being. The consistency of outcomes between in-person and online formats further confirms the flexibility and scalability of emotional cultivation programs for diverse educational settings.
By integrating Eastern and Western cultural perspectives, the emotional cultivation workshop emphasizes context-sensitive and culturally attuned emotional regulation strategies, aligning with the global trend toward culturally adaptive Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). This cross-cultural approach strengthens the relevance and effectiveness of the intervention, particularly in non-Western contexts where emotional norms and expressions may differ.
Methodologically, the study addresses limitations of traditional group research by applying complex statistical models to adjust for nested effects, thereby enhancing analytical precision and ensuring more reliable conclusions.
Practically, it is recommended that emotional cultivation workshops can be incorporated into teacher professional development programs as a means to enhance social-emotional learning, reduce burnout, and promote greater teaching effectiveness. Furthermore, the workshop’s short duration, strong cultural resonance, and adaptability across different settings make it highly suitable for broader implementation, including in workplaces and corporate environments, where it could serve as a tool to enhance employee mental health and organizational performance.
Although the study has promising contribution, there are some limitations in the study. First, it did not analyze potential differences among teachers with varying backgrounds, such as age, teaching experience, or subject area. Second, the absence of long-term follow-up data limits conclusions about the sustainability of observed effects. Third, important variables such as job stress and burnout were not included in the analysis. Future research is encouraged to address these limitations by incorporating more diverse samples, designing longitudinal studies, and including a broader range of variables. Additionally, extending the application of the emotional cultivation program to other populations– such as elderly population or professionals in other high-stress fields– could further explore its effectiveness and cultural adaptability, thereby strengthening its empirical foundation and informing policy development.
Keywords：social-emotional well-being, social-emotional learning, emotional cultivation intervention, teacher mental health