Are you a Montana educator . . . or do you know one?

If so, maybe you—or your friend—would like three (3) bargain-rate University of Montana graduate credits. As you may know, we’ve got an online and asynchronous “Happiness for Teachers” course starting on June 17 for only $195 and the credits (or OPI hours) can contribute to raising teacher salaries. Given all that teachers do for our youth and society, it’s the least we can do. And we can do it thanks to a fantastic grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation (AMBFF: https://blankfoundation.org/).

Because I’ve written about this opportunity before, this time I want to focus on outcomes. We’ve taught this course to teachers as asynchronous semester-long courses last summer (2023) and this spring (2024). I just finished crunching the numbers for our spring outcomes; I’ve got the summer outcomes in front of me as well.

We’ve pre-post data on 16 different outcome measures. For last summer, we had statistical significance on 12 of the 16 outcomes. For this spring, we had statistical significance on 13 of the 16 outcomes. Even better, based on Cohen’s guidance, many of the effect sizes are in the medium to large range.

For you stats nerds, here’s a Table describing the outcomes:

Outcome Measure	What Teachers Reported at Post-Test	Summer – 2023 – Statistical Significance (n = 40) and Effect Size (ES is Cohen’s d)	Spring – 2024 – Statistical Significance (n = 48) and Effect Size (ES is Cohen’s d)
NAPAS: Negative Affect	Fewer negative emotional symptoms (e.g., nervousness and sadness)	p < .001 ES = .671 (medium)	p < .006 ES = .389 (small to medium)
NAPAS: Positive affect	More positive emotions (e.g., “in good spirits”)	p < .001 ES = .887 (large)	p < .001 ES = .497 (medium)
CES-D: Depression	Fewer symptoms of depression	p < .001 ES = .751 (large)	p < .013 ES = .346 (small to medium)
Sleep	Better sleep	p < .001 ES = .644 (med to large)	p < .001 ES = .502 (medium)
Headaches	Fewer headaches	p < .009 ES = .393 (small to med)	p < .001 ES = .699 (medium to large)
Gastrointestinal symptoms	Less gastrointestinal distress	p < .027 ES = .315 (small to med)	p < .023 ES = .298 (small)
Colds	Fewer and less severe colds	p < .010 ES = .382 (small to med)	p < .024 ES = .298 (small)
PHQ: Total Health	Better total health	p < .001 ES = .589 (medium)	p < .001 ES = .625 (medium to large)
Days Sick	Fewer days of physical illness	P < .015 ES = .354 (small to med)	N/A
Hope-Agency	Greater goal directed energy	p < .001 ES = .704 (med to large)	p < .008 ES = .365 (small to medium)
Hope-Pathways	Greater planning to meet goals	p < .001 ES = .545 (medium)	p < .013 ES = .341 (small to medium)
AHS: Total Hope	Higher agency and pathways hope	p < .001 ES = .677 (med to large)	p < .004 ES = .416 (small to medium)
Significant Other Support	Support from a romantic partner	p < .166 ES = .158 (minimal)	p < .195 ES = .127 (minimal)
Family Support	Support from family	p < .114 ES = .194 (minimal)	p < .030 ES = .282 (small)
Friendship Support	Support from friends	p < .165 ES = .156 (minimal)	p < .177 ES = .137 (minimal)
MSPSS: Total Social Support	Combined romantic partner, family, and friend support	p < .133 ES = .181 (small)	p < .091 ES = .198 (small)
MAAS: Mindfulness	Less distracted and more tuned into the here and now	p < .001 ES = .892 (large)	p < .001 ES = .597 (medium to large)

 To summarize: If Montana educators want to have less negative affect and depression, more positive emotions, greater hope, better sleep, fewer headaches, less gastrointestinal distress, fewer colds (and days of physical illness), and greater mindfulness . . . they should register and complete this course.

To register, go to: https://www.campusce.net/umextended/course/course.aspx?C=712&pc=13&mc=&sc=

For more info, here’s my memo to educators:

Thanks for reading and be sure to take some time to toast our teachers!

JSF