Depression Anxiety DisorderUFSergipeNCT07716657
Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)
A study testing Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) in people with Depression Anxiety Disorder and Self-criticism, run by Universidade Federal de Sergipe at 1 site in Brazil.
Trial summary
Literature has reported the emergence of various mental disorders in teachers at this level, including common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety, leading to increased job turnover and detrimental to the teaching-learning process. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Depression Anxiety Disorder, Self-criticism
- What is being tested?
- Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 40 participants
- Where
- 1 siteBrazil
- Study dates
- 9 Oct 2025to 16 Feb 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Inclusion Criteria:a) of both sexes; b) teachers from the state and municipal elementary and secondary schools in the city of Aracaju, Sergipe; c) teachers performing their professional activities in the classroom; d) professionals available to participate in the sessions proposed by the program.
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Exclusion Criteria:serious psychiatric problems (e.g., psychotic disorders, major depression, bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation, borderline personality disorder, and substance abuse)
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Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)
Literature has reported the emergence of various mental disorders in teachers at this level, including common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety, leading to increased job turnover and detrimental to the teaching-learning process. To prevent and promote mental health in this professional population, compassion-based interventions have proven effective, especially in situations of distress, by reducing fears of compassion and self-criticism, considered preventive factors for depressive and anxiety disorders. Given the growing evidence of the benefits of compassion for mental health, and the prevalence of common mental disorders in elementary school teachers, aggravated by the new coronavirus pandemic, this project aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) on the mental health of elementary school teachers in the public education system in the city of Aracaju.
Read the detailed description
In school settings, compassion-centered approaches have the potential to improve psychological well-being for all community members, including students, staff, parents, and teachers, by prioritizing the caring motivational system . This highlights the need to incorporate these programs into teacher training and schools. This recommendation is supported by international guidelines for promoting health and well-being, issued by organizations such as the United Nations General Assembly. In the European Union, and in countries such as Portugal, there are official government recommendations that emphasize the importance of fostering health literacy and socio-emotional skills in school settings, aiming for health and psychological well-being. Given the recognition of the problems arising from negative indicators involving teachers' mental health, evidence is found in different countries of interventions based on compassion and mindfulness, with effective results among teaching staff .
Within the scope of compassion, the Compassionate Schools Research Initiative has implemented and evaluated the effectiveness of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T), a six-session program based on the original version of CMT, in schools in Portugal and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, the CMT-T program was implemented with 70 teachers and support staff, and the results indicated a positive evaluation of the practices and their usefulness in dealing with emotional difficulties. After participating, the teachers in this study also showed lower levels of self-criticism and increased self-compassion. In Portugal, two studies demonstrated the effectiveness of CMT-T on mental health indicators, reducing fear of compassion, and reducing self-criticism among teachers. The first was an uncontrolled pilot study with elementary school teachers. Post-intervention measures indicated an increase in flows (participants' compassion for others and compassion directed toward themselves) and a reduction in depression and stress levels. Furthermore, when self-criticism was controlled, there was a decrease in levels and an increase in job satisfaction and self-esteem among the participants.
Following the pilot study, a randomized, longitudinal clinical trial in Portugal, conducted with 55 elementary school teachers in the experimental group and 40 teachers in the control group, indicated that participants in the CMT-T program had improved indicators of self-compassion, compassion for others, and affection, as well as decreased fears of compassion, anxiety, depression, and self-criticism, with medium to large effect sizes. The same study indicated that, after three months of intervention, teachers in the experimental group maintained the same results, with the exception of self-compassion, and the program's feasibility results demonstrated that the modules on cultivating the calming system and developing a compassionate mind were the most helpful for the participants . Therefore, the results presented by the studies in the United Kingdom and Portugal highlight the importance of reducing self-criticism and fears of self-compassion to improve mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression, in elementary school teachers.
Finally, CMT-T represents an intervention modality suitable for Basic Education teachers in Brazil, to face the contemporary difficulties of school environments, by proposing a shift from the predominance of motivational systems based on threat and competition to a motivational set related to affiliation/compassion, with positive potential for promoting the mental health of basic level educators, such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, given the growing evidence of the benefits of compassion for mental health and the prevalence of common mental disorders among basic education teachers , aggravated by the new coronavirus pandemic , it is timely to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for teachers (CMT-T) on the mental health of Basic Education teachers in Brazil, specifically in the public education system of the city of Aracaju.
- Conditions
- Depression Anxiety Disorder, Self-criticism
- Being tested
- Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)Behavioural
In each module, in addition to the presentation of the theoretical constructs to be worked on, participants will be invited to perform experiential exercises, compassion and mindfulness practices, and work in small groups to share their experiences. Following this, an assembly will be held with the participants. The experimental group will be led by two members of the team: a doctoral psychologist and a master's student. They will facilitate the group, conduct the experiences and practices, present the content, and stimulate discussion in the plenary session. Everyone will strictly follow the CMT-T manual. The CMT-T team will inform participants that they will be available between modules should any participant have any questions or concerns about the session content.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) | Experimental | The Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) Program is a compassionate mind training program aimed at teachers and conducted in a group structure, spread over six weeks, lasting approximately two hours. The characteristics presented in the program are derived from other studies, using the same protocol with teachers, in the United Kingdom and Portugal , which demonstrated the effectiveness and feasibility of the program. Receives: Behavioral: Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) |
| Group B | No intervention | This group will not receive the intervention |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Viability
will be assessed according to the following criteria from Bowen et al. (2009), a system adopted in CMT viability assessment programs.
Measured: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 6 weeks.
Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale
A 22-item self-report measure that assesses how someone thinks and reacts when dealing with failures or mistakes, developed by the leading theorist of CFT.
Measured: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale
A 21-item scale that independently measures three subscales corresponding to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. . Each item refers to the degree to which the respondent experienced a symptom during the last week (previous week), assessed on a 4-point Likert scale between 0 (does not apply to me) and 3 (applies to me a lot, or most of the time). Scores for depression, anxiety, and stress are computed by summing the scores.
Measured: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire
This instrument consists of 12 items, distributed across three factors, to assess burnout profiles: frantic, underchallenged, and exhausted. These three subscales are measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), so scores are calculated by the sum of the items divided by the number of items.
Measured: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted21 Jul 2026
- Study start9 Oct 2025
- Primary completion13 Feb 2026
- Study completion16 Feb 2026
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Depression Anxiety DisorderStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 40 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Universidade Federal de Sergipe
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Karine David Andrade Santos, Universidade Federal de Sergipe
- Investigators
- Karine David Andrade Santos, Teacher, Principal investigator, Universidade Federal de Sergipe
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07716657
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 7.115.189
- Other IDs
- 176567/2023-2
- Acronym
- UFSergipe
- Status last verified
- Sep 2025
- First submitted
- 16 Jul 2026
- Last updated
- 21 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 21 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07716657
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- UFSergipe / 7.115.189
- Conditions
- Depression Anxiety Disorder, Self-criticism
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 40 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Universidade Federal de SergipeUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 9 Oct 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 13 Feb 2026 (actual)
- Study completion
- 16 Feb 2026 (actual)
- First posted
- 21 Jul 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Literature has reported the emergence of various mental disorders in teachers at this level, including common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety, leading to increased job turnover and detrimental to the teaching-learning process. To prevent and promote mental health in this professional population, compassion-based interventions have proven effective, especially in situations of distress, by reducing fears of compassion and self-criticism, considered preventive factors for depressive and anxiety disorders. Given the growing evidence of the benefits of compassion for mental health, and the prevalence of common mental disorders in elementary school teachers, aggravated by the new coronavirus pandemic, this project aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) on the mental health of elementary school teachers in the public education system in the city of Aracaju.
Detailed description
In school settings, compassion-centered approaches have the potential to improve psychological well-being for all community members, including students, staff, parents, and teachers, by prioritizing the caring motivational system . This highlights the need to incorporate these programs into teacher training and schools. This recommendation is supported by international guidelines for promoting health and well-being, issued by organizations such as the United Nations General Assembly. In the European Union, and in countries such as Portugal, there are official government recommendations that emphasize the importance of fostering health literacy and socio-emotional skills in school settings, aiming for health and psychological well-being. Given the recognition of the problems arising from negative indicators involving teachers' mental health, evidence is found in different countries of interventions based on compassion and mindfulness, with effective results among teaching staff .
Within the scope of compassion, the Compassionate Schools Research Initiative has implemented and evaluated the effectiveness of Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T), a six-session program based on the original version of CMT, in schools in Portugal and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, the CMT-T program was implemented with 70 teachers and support staff, and the results indicated a positive evaluation of the practices and their usefulness in dealing with emotional difficulties. After participating, the teachers in this study also showed lower levels of self-criticism and increased self-compassion. In Portugal, two studies demonstrated the effectiveness of CMT-T on mental health indicators, reducing fear of compassion, and reducing self-criticism among teachers. The first was an uncontrolled pilot study with elementary school teachers. Post-intervention measures indicated an increase in flows (participants' compassion for others and compassion directed toward themselves) and a reduction in depression and stress levels. Furthermore, when self-criticism was controlled, there was a decrease in levels and an increase in job satisfaction and self-esteem among the participants.
Following the pilot study, a randomized, longitudinal clinical trial in Portugal, conducted with 55 elementary school teachers in the experimental group and 40 teachers in the control group, indicated that participants in the CMT-T program had improved indicators of self-compassion, compassion for others, and affection, as well as decreased fears of compassion, anxiety, depression, and self-criticism, with medium to large effect sizes. The same study indicated that, after three months of intervention, teachers in the experimental group maintained the same results, with the exception of self-compassion, and the program's feasibility results demonstrated that the modules on cultivating the calming system and developing a compassionate mind were the most helpful for the participants . Therefore, the results presented by the studies in the United Kingdom and Portugal highlight the importance of reducing self-criticism and fears of self-compassion to improve mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression, in elementary school teachers.
Finally, CMT-T represents an intervention modality suitable for Basic Education teachers in Brazil, to face the contemporary difficulties of school environments, by proposing a shift from the predominance of motivational systems based on threat and competition to a motivational set related to affiliation/compassion, with positive potential for promoting the mental health of basic level educators, such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, given the growing evidence of the benefits of compassion for mental health and the prevalence of common mental disorders among basic education teachers , aggravated by the new coronavirus pandemic , it is timely to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of Compassionate Mind Training for teachers (CMT-T) on the mental health of Basic Education teachers in Brazil, specifically in the public education system of the city of Aracaju.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) | Experimental | Behavioral: Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)The Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) Program is a compassionate mind training program aimed at teachers and conducted in a group structure, spread over six weeks, lasting approximately two hours. The characteristics presented in the program are derived from other studies, using the same protocol with teachers, in the United Kingdom and Portugal , which demonstrated the effectiveness and feasibility of the program. |
| Group B | No intervention | –This group will not receive the intervention |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T)In each module, in addition to the presentation of the theoretical constructs to be worked on, participants will be invited to perform experiential exercises, compassion and mindfulness practices, and work in small groups to share their experiences. Following this, an assembly will be held with the participants. The experimental group will be led by two members of the team: a doctoral psychologist and a master's student. They will facilitate the group, conduct the experiences and practices, present the content, and stimulate discussion in the plenary session. Everyone will strictly follow the CMT-T manual. The CMT-T team will inform participants that they will be available between modules should any participant have any questions or concerns about the session content. | Behavioural | Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) |
Primary outcome
Viability
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 6 weeks.
will be assessed according to the following criteria from Bowen et al. (2009), a system adopted in CMT viability assessment programs.
Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
A 22-item self-report measure that assesses how someone thinks and reacts when dealing with failures or mistakes, developed by the leading theorist of CFT.
Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
A 21-item scale that independently measures three subscales corresponding to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. . Each item refers to the degree to which the respondent experienced a symptom during the last week (previous week), assessed on a 4-point Likert scale between 0 (does not apply to me) and 3 (applies to me a lot, or most of the time). Scores for depression, anxiety, and stress are computed by summing the scores.
Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 18 weeks.
This instrument consists of 12 items, distributed across three factors, to assess burnout profiles: frantic, underchallenged, and exhausted. These three subscales are measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), so scores are calculated by the sum of the items divided by the number of items.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 21 Jul 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Karine David Andrade Santos, Teacher principal investigator
Universidade Federal de Sergipe
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Compassionate Mind Training for Teachers (CMT-T) in people with Depression Anxiety Disorder and Self-criticism, run by Universidade Federal de Sergipe at 1 site in Brazil.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 Jul 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Brazil. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Viability (time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment in 6 weeks.). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 21 Jul 2026.