Teatime - Mental Health for Teachers
According to a 2014 study, 30% of all teachers in Switzerland are at risk of burnout. With TEATIME, we are developing a smartphone app to promote the mental health of teachers.
The app promotes self-regulation, provides data-based advice through TEATIME analytics and motivates through playful explorative visualizations. TEATIME connects affected teachers and coaches and closes a central gap in the treatment chain.
Fig: Paper prototypes in the development process
Tracking, data visualization, app development
Linking lessons learned from burnout research among educators to the power of interactive media technologies and data analytics leads to a product that closes an important gap in burnout prevention and represents a promising innovation in the field of mental health. With TEATIME, the latest trends in digital health tracking and coaching are taken up and realized in an innovative product.
With the newly developed online tool, innovations are achieved in three areas:
- The burnout prevention of teachers is low-threshold and therefore realized earlier by affected teachers. For prevention, insights into the importance of self-regulation will be harnessed and teachers will benefit from increased mental health, making it possible to manage work-related needs in a more resilient, contented and motivated manner. Mental healthier teachers also have a positive impact on education, student development, medical expenses and the quality of educational institutions.
- For prevention, counseling and self-regulation, a personalized monitoring tool is available that directly identifies changes in self-regulation and serves as a link between the teacher and the coach. Through the tool the coaches / counselors get the possibility of a data-based support, in which they can check the effectiveness of the advice, intervene selectively and recognize crises early. This optimal support of the consulting process through the tool not only enhances the quality of the consultation but also its reputation, as coaches can prove their consulting success by the anonymous data.
- For the tool-based interaction (app) forms are developed for playful-intuitive input and new forms of the UX are tested. These innovations serve to increase the intrinsic motivation of users (teachers) and thus to increase the likelihood of regular use of the application.
- For teachers, using the app by enhancing intrinsic motivation with playful-intuitive forms becomes more of an experience. This promotes more self-regulation and thus mental health development.
- The professional coaches are facilitated by the optimal support with the analysis tool without sacrificing quality. They can also save resources through shorter pre- and post-processing times. They get an insight into the black box of the psychosocial processes of their clients and can steer the consultation / measures purposefully. Thanks to the intuitive operation and delivery of relevant information about the consulting process, the analysis tool will be an easy-to-use, everyday tool.
- Students benefit from their mentally healthier teachers and thus from the increased quality of education.
- Educational institutions and school administrators can also gain added value through reduced sick days, a more resilient and motivated workforce and a higher quality of education.
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Duration | 21 month |
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Project team | Prof. Dr. Doris Agotai (Lead), Fiona Nüesch, Ulrike Schock |