Received: 24 May 2019 | Revised: 10 July 2019 | Accepted: 18 July 2019

DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22229

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The mediating effect of perceived social support

on the relationship between mindfulness and
burnout in special education teachers

Jin Sun1 | Xian Wang2 | Yongli Wang1 | Xiaoxin Du1 |

1
Changxin Zhang

1
Department of Education and Rehabilitation,
Faculty of Education, East China Normal Abstract
University, Shanghai, China This study aimed to explore the mediating effect of
2
School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal
perceived social support on the relationship between mind-
University, Nanjing, China
fulness and burnout in Chinese special education teachers.
Correspondence
Three hundred and seven teachers completed the Five‐
Changxin Zhang, Department of Education
and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Education, East Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Multi‐dimensional Scale
China Normal University, 3663 N. North
of Perceived Social Support Scale, and Teacher Burnout
Zhongshan Rd., Shanghai 200062, China.
Email: cxzhang@spe.ecnu.edu.cn Inventory. The results showed that burnout was negatively
correlated with mindfulness and perceived social support,
Funding information
Peak Discipline Construction Project of while perceived social support was positively correlated
Education at East China Normal University.;
with mindfulness. Moreover, perceived social support
National Social Science Foundation Project in
China, Grant/Award Number: 19CYY019 partially mediated the effect of mindfulness on special
education teachers' burnout. These results suggest that the
use of mindfulness combined with perceived social support
may be beneficial for preventing and mitigating burnout
among special education teachers.

KEYWORDS
burnout, mediation effect, mindfulness, perceived social support

1 | INTRODUCTION

The delivery of special education services in China is mainly by special education schools and centers, and
supplemented by special classes in regular schools. Special education schools and centers provide both subject
education and rehabilitation services, such as motor rehabilitation, speech‐language rehabilitation, and cognition
rehabilitation for children with developmental disabilities (Deng & Harris, 2008). Special classes in regular schools
admit children with mild disabilities and mainly provide education of certain subjects for them. Subject education
and rehabilitation services are part of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for children with developmental

J. Community Psychol. 2019;1–11. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcop © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 1

2 | SUN ET AL.

disabilities. Most communities in China have special education centers or special education schools. Special
education teachers working in theses community organizations take responsibilities for implementing the IEPs for
children with developmental disabilities, which make them become important public‐service workers in the
community. However, special education is a highly stressful occupation and teachers are at high risk of burnout
(Brunsting, Sreckovic, & Lane, 2014).
Burnout refers to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by chronic occupational stress with three
core dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach,
Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). Special education teachers have been reported to experience moderate to high levels of
burnout owing to the challenging student behaviors, the lack of administrative support, and the excessive workload
(Jovanović, Karić, Mihajlović, Džamonja‐Ignjatović, & Hinić, 2019; Nuri, Demirok, & Direktör, 2017). Increasing
evidence indicated that burnout was associated with physical and psychological health problems of special
education teachers, such as depression (Bianchi, Boffy, Hingray, Truchot, & Laurent, 2013) and physical pain
(Armon, Melamed, Shirom, & Shapira, 2010). In addition, research has found that burnout is related to the high
attrition rate of special education teachers (Emery & Vandenberg, 2010). Unfortunately, the development of
children with developmental disabilities is also negatively affected by teachers' burnout, as burnt out teachers are
less effective in implementing children's IEPs (Ruble & McGrew, 2013). Teachers who are experiencing burnout are
also more likely to become impatient and indifferent to children, which brings adverse effects on their
development. (Irvin, Hume, Boyd, McBee, & Odom, 2013). Considering these unfavorable influences, it is crucial to
study inhibitory factors and mechanisms of burnout in special education teachers.
Mindfulness has lately received great attention for its probable association with burnout. Mindfulness describes
a state of consciousness arising from intentionally and nonjudgmentally attending to experiences occurring in the
current moment (Kabat‐Zinn, 2003). Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, and Toney (2006) have conceptualized
mindfulness as a multifaceted construct containing five facets: observing, describing, acting with awareness,
nonjudging of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience. A growing body of research has shown that
mindfulness can negatively predict burnout among different populations (Abenavoli, Jennings, Greenberg, Harris, &
Katz, 2013; Lebares et al., 2018; Taylor & Millear, 2016). These studies suggest that mindfulness is associated with
low risk of burnout. In addition, community‐based mindfulness intervention has been established as an effective
program for reducing the stress and improving the psychological well‐being of parents or caregivers of children
with developmental disabilities (Bazzano et al., 2015). However, a study has found that after 4–5 weeks of
mindfulness intervention, burnout increased in special education teachers (Sharp Donahoo, Siegrist, & Garrett‐
Wright, 2018). The results of this study need to be treated with caution due to its procedural limitations. First, the
test timings were inappropriate. The pretest was conducted when the participants had just come back from the
summer breaks, and posttest was conducted 1 month into a new academic year when exhaustion probably happens
for teachers. Second, participants were allowed to choose from a range of therapy interventions like mindfulness,
prayer and support group to reduce their stress and burnout. In other words, not all participants received
mindfulness intervention for the entire period. The inconsistency in therapy decreases the reliability of this study.
More evidence is needed to further clarify the relationship between mindfulness and burnout in special education
teachers. Moreover, exploring the underlying mechanism between mindfulness and burnout in special education
teachers can contribute to the improvement of mindfulness‐based intervention. Therefore, it is necessary to
explore the relationship between mindfulness and burnout, and the mechanisms by which mindfulness affects
special education teachers' burnout.
Perceived social support defined as the belief that assistance would be provided by social relationships
when needed (Norris & Kaniasty, 1996), may account for the association between mindfulness and burnout.
Numerous studies have found that perceived support from a variety of social relationship, including family,
friends, colleagues, general education teachers, and administrators, were negatively related with burnout of
special education teachers (Caputo & Langher, 2015; Langher, Caputo, & Ricci, 2017; Zabel & Zabel, 2002).
Through meta‐analysis, Halbesleben (2006) also found that perceived social support was associated with all
SUN ET AL. | 3

three burnout dimensions. These results demonstrate that perceived social support is an important social
resource for preventing burnout in special education teachers. Further, empirical evidence has suggested
mindfulness can positively predict perceived social support (Chen, 2018; Kuhl & Boyraz, 2017). This may be
because mindfulness enables individuals to focus on the present experience and be aware of the support they
receive from their social network (Kuhl & Boyraz, 2017).
In summary, there is a possibility that perceived social support is associated with reduced burnout and
increased mindfulness in special education teachers. Notably, perceived social support has been found to have a
mediating effect on the association of mindfulness with several components of psychological well‐being (e.g.,
negative affect, positive affect, and stress symptoms; Schellekens et al., 2017; Swickert et al., 2019). On the basis of
the associations between mindfulness, perceived social support, and burnout, perceived social support can be
theorized to act as a mediator in the relationship between mindfulness and burnout in special education teachers.
However, this mediating effect has not been investigated in previous research.

1.1 | The present study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between mindfulness, perceived social support, and
burnout in special education teachers, and to explore whether there is a mediating effect of perceived social
support on the relationship between mindfulness and burnout. We hypothesized that mindfulness would relate to
burnout in special education teachers, and perceived social support would have a mediation effect through which
mindfulness influences burnout. This research would not only offer an insight into the relationship among
mindfulness, social support, and burnout, but also contribute to the theoretical basis for future empirical research
on lowering the burnout rate of special education teachers.

2 | METHOD

2.1 | Participants
The participants of this study were special education teachers responsible for implementing IEPs for children
between first to ninth grade (compulsory education of China) in community special education centers (n = 6) and
schools (n = 12). Teachers dealt with disabilities like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and mental
retardation. Data of 307 Chinese special education teachers (women, n = 260, 84.7%; men, n = 47, 15.3%) were
used in the study (aged 21–56 years, mean age = 35.4 years, standard deviation (SD) = 9.93 years). There were 116
participants (37.8%) from special education centers and 191 participants (62.2%) from special education schools.
The years of teaching experience of the participants were reported as follows: Less than 1 year, n = 66 (21.5%); 1–5
years, n = 105 (34.2%); above 5 years, n = 136 (44.3%). Consent was obtained from all participants in the study.

2.2 | Procedure
Participants were recruited through sampling special education schools and centers in Shanghai, Jiangsu, and
Shandong provinces in China. Schools and centers were selected from the three most populous cities of each
province, and two schools or centers were randomly selected from each city. Before conducting the research,
consent was obtained from the principals of these schools. All special education teachers were informed in detail
about the purpose and method of the study After teachers provided consent, they completed a paper‐and‐pencil
survey containing demographic items and scales. All participants completed the survey anonymously and
voluntarily, and could withdraw from the study at any time. The current study was approved by the Research Ethics
Board of East China Normal University.
4 | SUN ET AL.

2.3 | Measures
2.3.1 | Five‐Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire
Mindfulness was measured using the Five‐Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al., 2006). The FFMQ consists
of 39 items assessing mindfulness on five subscales: Observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner
experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience. Participants rated each item using a five‐point Likert scale (1 = never to
5 = always). Higher scores indicate higher levels of mindfulness. The Chinese version of FFMQ was employed in this study.
Deng, Liu, Rodriguez, and Xia (2011) reported internal reliabilities of 0.45–0.85 for the five facets of the Chinese version of
FFMQ. Cronbach α coefficient for all five subscales in this study were .72, .70, .92, .69, and .72, respectively.

2.3.2 | Multi‐Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

Perceived Social Support was measured using The Multi‐dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet,
Powell, Farley, Werkman, & Berkoff, 1990). The MSPSS is a 12‐item scale which consists of three subscales: Family,
friends, and significant others. Each subscale comprises of four items, and a seven‐point Likert scale is used to score the
items (1 = very strongly disagree to 7 = very strongly agree). Higher scores indicate a greater perception of social support.
Cronbach's α for the scale ranged from .84 to .92 (Zimet et al., 1990). The Chinese version of the MSPSS was used in the
current study. Internal reliabilities of three subscales were reported from 0.86 to 0.90 (Wang, Wan, Huang, Huang, &
Kong, 2017). Cronbach's α coefficients for the three MSPSS subscales in this study were .85, .90, and .92, respectively.

2.3.3 | Teacher Burnout Inventory

We employed the Teacher Burnout Inventory (TBI; Xu, Ji, & Chao, 2004) to evaluate the burnout in teachers. The
TBI is a 15‐item questionnaire based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory and is more appropriate for Chinese
teachers. Cronbach's α for the TBI was .83 (Xu et al., 2004). The TBI consists of three subscales: Emotional
exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. The items are scored on a five‐point Likert
scale from 1 (very strongly disagree) to 5 (very strongly agree). Higher scores suggest high levels of burnout. In this
sample, Cronbach's α coefficient for the three subscales were .84, .73, and .78, respectively.

2.4 | Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's α coefficients, Pearson's correlations, and exploratory factor analysis were
conducted using the SPSS 23.0. The structural equation model (SEM) analysis and the bias‐corrected bootstrapping
approach (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) were performed by the Mplus 7.4 to test the hypothesized model. The
Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)
were used to evaluate the goodness of model fit. CFI, TLI values >0.9, and RMSEA values <0.08 were considered to
indicate a good fit (Barrett, 2007).

3 | RES U LTS

3.1 | Common method bias

The present study adopted Harman's single‐factor test (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Jeong‐Yeon, & Podsakoff, 2003) by
loading all items of the three scales into an exploratory factor analysis and examining the unrotated factor solution.
The results showed that there were 16 factors that were necessary to explain the variance of the variables
(eigenvalue >1), and the first factor accounted for 17.04% of the variance, which was less than 40%. Thus, we
concluded that there is no common method bias in the present study.
SUN ET AL. | 5

3.2 | Correlation between mindfulness, perceived social support, and burnout

Table 1 displays means, SDs, Cronbach's α coefficients, and correlations for mindfulness, perceived social support,
and burnout. As expected, overall burnout was negatively correlated with overall mindfulness (r = −.24, p < 0.01)
and social support (r = −.43, p < .01). However, social support was positively correlated with mindfulness (r = .28,
p < .01). In addition, family support, friend support, and significant others support were negatively correlated with
burnout and positively correlated with mindfulness. The internal consistencies of variables were satisfactory
(Cronbach's α > .70). The pattern of correlations between variables was in line with expectations, and are suitable
for further mediation analysis.

3.3 | Mediation effect analysis

A SEM was established (Figure 1) to examine the hypothetical mediating effect of perceived social support on the
relationship between mindfulness and burnout. The model had a good data fit, χ2/df = 2.72, RMSEA = 0.06 < 0.08,
CFI = 0.96 > 0.9, TLI = 0.95 > 0.9. All factor loadings of observed indicators were significant, indicating that all the
latent variables were well represented by respective indicators.
The regression estimation results are shown in Table 2 and Figure 1. The results illustrate that mindfulness had
a significant direct effect on burnout (β = −.170, standard error (SE) = 0.082, p = .037). In addition, mindfulness was
positively associated with perceived social support (β = .365, SE = 0.067, p < .001), which negatively predicted
burnout (β = −.472, SE = 0.067, p < .001). These results support the hypotheses. However, the mediating role of
perceived social support still required further verification using a bootstrap test (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). For the
bias‐corrected bootstrap method, 1,000 bootstrap samples were drawn by the Mplus 7.4. The results showed that
the estimated indirect effect was −0.173 with 95% confidence interval (CI) = [−0.268, −0.107], which do not contain
zero. Therefore, we can conclude perceived social support performs a partial mediation effect on the association
between mindfulness and burnout. The estimated total effect of mindfulness was indirect effect plus direct effect,
that was −0.343, so the mediating path accounted for 50.44% of the total effect.

4 | D IS C U S S IO N

The present study was designed to explore the association between mindfulness, social support, and burnout in
special education teachers. The correlation results showed that mindfulness was negatively correlated with
burnout, which is consistent with previous findings (Lebares et al., 2018; Taylor & Millear, 2016). In addition, the
correlation results revealed that teachers who have high levels of mindfulness tend to perceive more social support
from family, friend, and other significant relationships. These findings provide evidence that supports results from

T A B L E 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations of measured variables

M SD α 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Total mindfulness 120.20 4.98 .85 1
2. Total social support 67.87 12.57 .86 .28** 1
3. Family 21.97 6.05 .85 .22** .87** 1
4. Friends 22.26 4.23 .90 .25** .87** .57** 1
5. Significant others 23.64 4.25 .92 .28** .87** .57** .76** 1
6. Total burnout 27.93 8.22 .88 −.24** −.43** −.34** −.39** −.40** 1
Note: α = Cronbach's α coefficient.
Abbreviations: M, mean; SD, standard deviation.
**p < .01.
6 | SUN ET AL.

FIGURE 1 Structural model demonstrating standardized regression coefficients between variables. *p < .05,
***p < .001

prior research on the positive association between mindfulness and perceived social support (Chen, 2018; Kuhl &
Boyraz, 2017). Furthermore, the results that three sources of social support were negatively related to burnout are
consistent with prior research and support that there is a negative correlation between social support and burnout
in special education teachers (Langher et al., 2017; Zabel & Zabel, 2002).
As expected, the regression results showed that mindfulness negatively predicted burnout (β = −.343, and when
the mediator was included in the model β = −.170), indicating that raising mindfulness through various methods can
be helpful in reducing burnout. These results are consistent with prior findings (Abenavoli et al., 2013; Lebares
et al., 2018; Taylor & Millear, 2016) and confirm the association between mindfulness and burnout in a sample of
special education teachers. These results are also in favor of Bazzano's perspective that a community‐based
mindfulness training program can be an effective intervention in decreasing stress and improving psychological
well‐being for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities (Bazzano et al., 2015). However, results do not
support the study by Sharp Donahoo et al. (2018) that the intervention of mindfulness and alternative therapies
were ineffective in alleviating burnout. Possible explanations are the limitations in Sharp Donahoo et al. (2018)
study design: Timings of the tests were inappropriate and interventions that the participants received were
inconsistent, constricting the reliability and validity of research results. In addition, mindfulness may be particularly
useful in the context of education as it encourages teachers to take proactive classroom management strategies
rather than reactive strategies (Abenavoli et al., 2013). But the interventions employed in Sharp Donahoo et al.
(2018) study were neither adjusted to an educational context nor implemented in the educational environment.
With great awareness of the present experience, mindful special education teachers may be more attentive to the

T A B L E 2 Standardized regression estimates of the structural equation model

95% CI
Independent Dependent
variable variable β SE t p R 2
Lower Upper
Mindfulness Social support .365 0.067 5.467*** ＜.001 .866 0.239 0.490
Mindfulness Burnout −.170 0.082 −2.081* .037 .689 −0.329 −0.017
Social support −.472 0.067 −7.013*** ＜.001 −0.610 −0.350
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; SE, standard error.
*p < .05.
***p < .001.
SUN ET AL. | 7

rehabilitative, social, and emotional needs of children with developmental disabilities, more likely to spot every tiny
progress that children have achieved, and take intentional and effective actions to address the challenging behavior
of children instead of automatically punitive reactions (Singh, Lancioni, Winton, Karazsia, & Singh, 2013).
The most noteworthy result was finding that perceived social support partially mediated the relationship
between mindfulness and burnout in special education teachers. This might suggest that special education teachers
who endorsed higher levels of mindfulness also reported higher perceived social support, which was accompanied
by lower levels of burnout. Previous studies show how mindfulness affects perceived social support (Chen, 2018;
Kuhl & Boyraz, 2017) and demonstrates how perceived social support influences burnout in teachers (Langher
et al., 2017). The present study fills the current gap by establishing an integrated model that accounts for the
relationship between mindfulness, perceived social support and burnout. The mediating path of perceived social
support is crucial for clarifying the process by which mindfulness reduces special education teachers' burnout. First,
mindfulness emphasizes accepting thoughts and emotions without any judgment which promotes openness and
sharing of emotion with others (Schellekens et al., 2017). It also facilitates teachers supporting and feeling
supported by others (Malpass et al., 2012). In addition, mindfulness was closely related to loving‐kindness and
gratitude (Aspy & Proeve, 2017; Swickert et al., 2019). Paying kind and compassionate attention to others may
foster the grateful attitude towards others, reduce the sense of loneliness and strengthen social bonds with others
(Caputo, 2015), which increases perceived social support (Swickert et al., 2019). Second, social support can
strengthen one's ability to address problems of stress, facilitate positive feelings, and be less affected by
undesirable experiences (Eşkisu, 2014). This helps maintain psychological well‐being and avoids burnout (Klainin‐
Yobas et al., 2016). Furthermore, the indirect effect of social support accounted for 50.44% of the total effect of
mindfulness on burnout, which demonstrates the significance of social support in the relationship between
mindfulness and burnout.

4.1 | Implications
The present study provides valuable guidance on how to reduce burnout in special education teachers. Our findings
imply that mindfulness has a critical role in special education teachers' burnout, and support that improving levels
of mindfulness through a variety of method could be beneficial for preventing and mitigating occupational burnout.
In addition, based on the mediating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between mindfulness and
burnout, increasing perceived social support of teachers seems to be an effective way to enhance the effect of
mindfulness on burnout. The mediating effect of social support also implies that teachers would likely benefit from
receiving increased social support from their family, friends, and significant others. Our findings provide useful
implications for future research on the necessity of conducting longitudinal or experimental research to confirm
whether increasing mindfulness and perceived social support can reduce special education teachers' burnout. The
statistically significant direct path from mindfulness to burnout also suggests that there may be other variables
playing a role in the model, such as secure attachment of children (Langher, Scurci, Tolve, & Caputo, 2013), and
future research should expand the model to explore the mechanisms underlying the effects of mindfulness. Future
research can recruit regular teachers and explore the role of teachers' mindfulness in inclusive education (Tomai
et al., 2017).

4.2 | Strengths and limitations

The present study is, to our knowledge, the first to explore the relationship between mindfulness and burnout in a
sample of special education teachers. Our findings provide insights into the occupational burnout of this group.
Furthermore, the present study established a SEM and used the bias‐corrected bootstrap approach to examine the
mediating effect of perceived social support on the association between mindfulness and burnout. The mediating
8 | SUN ET AL.

path of perceived social support contributes to our understanding of how mindfulness related to burnout in special
education teachers.
Although this study obtained expected results, it also had some limitations to be addressed in future studies.
First, the sample was not randomly selected but selected by schools and centers, possibly resulting in selection bias.
Future research should randomly select sample to improve representativeness. Second, the sample was mostly
composed of female teachers. Although it is approximately in line with the gender ratio of Chinese special
education teachers, it may be difficult to generalize the results to other groups. Future research should examine the
results in different samples. Third, the FFMQ, MSPSS, and TBI scales used in the study were self‐reported
questionnaires that may be subjected to potential bias, such as social desirability bias (Caputo, 2017). Further
research could employ multiple methods for collecting data to decrease self‐reported bias. Finally, as the present
study utilized cross‐sectional design, it cannot draw conclusions about causality between variables. Thus, future
research should use a longitudinal design to explore the causal relationship between mindfulness, perceived social
support, and burnout.

5 | CONC LU SION

The present study examined the association between mindfulness, perceived social support and burnout in a
sample of the special education teachers. The results demonstrated that burnout was negatively associated with
mindfulness and social support in special education teachers. In addition, perceived social support had a mediating
path through which mindfulness was associated with burnout. Our results imply that mindfulness plays an
important role in special education teachers' burnout, and social support may enhance the association between
mindfulness and burnout.

A C K N O W L E D GM E N T S

The authors would like to thank the teachers who participated in this study. The authors disclose receipt of the
following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was sponsored
by Peak Discipline Construction Project of Education at East China Normal University and the National Social
Science Foundation Project in China (Grant No. 19CYY019).

CO NFLICT OF I NTERE STS

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

A UT HO R C ONT RI BU TIO N

All the authors have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for
publication.

E TH ICS S TA T EM E NT

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Research Ethics Board of the East China
Normal University, with written informed consent from all subjects. All subjects gave written informed consent in
accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board of the East
China Normal University.
SUN ET AL. | 9

REFEREES

Please consider the following researchers as potential referees:

Alicia Bazzano, MD. Institution: Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Email:
abazzano@ucla.edu. Specialty: Psychological Therapy.
Viviana Langher, PhD. Institution: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology at Sapienza University of
Rome. Email: viviana.langher@uniroma1.it. Specialty: Clinical Psychology.
Hongyan Chen, PhD. Institution: School of Education and Science, Shaanxi University of Technology. Email:
chenhypsy@163.com. Specialty: Educational Psychology.
Megan Kuhl, PhD. Institution: Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Louisiana Tech University.
Email: mlk031@latech.edu. Specialty: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

OR CID

Changxin Zhang http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8404-928X

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How to cite this article: Sun J, Wang X, Wang Y, Du X, Zhang C. The mediating effect of perceived social
support on the relationship between mindfulness and burnout in special education teachers. J. Community
Psychol. 2019;1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22229