Monitoring teacher well-being over time is essential in both research and practice to understand changes, evaluate interventions, and support occupational health. This study examines the longitudinal measurement invariance of the Dutch versions of three commonly used scales related to well-being: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Utilizing three bimonthly waves of data collected from a cohort of elementary school teachers in Flanders (n = 237), we evaluated the scales' configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance over time. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that all three scales demonstrate adequate longitudinal measurement invariance, supporting their stability and reliability for repeated measurement. Notably, this is among the first studies to test longitudinal measurement invariance of these widely used scales over a 6-month period in an applied occupational setting. These findings strengthen confidence in their use for monitoring well-being over time.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292406.].

While the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the general public's health and well-being, it exacerbated the pre-existing well-being issues in the educational sector in many countries. Mindfulness-based interventions are often applied to protect and promote occupational well-being. To investigate how the well-being benefits of these interventions arise, we selected one accessible technique that is used in most of them: focused attention meditation. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, 199 teachers voluntarily practiced five to ten minutes of meditation together with their pupils, every morning for six months. We employed a three-wave longitudinal design to follow any changes in the meditating teachers' well-being and compared these changes to a waitlist control condition of 42 teachers. Three dimensions of well-being were measured at baseline, half-time, and post-intervention: emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being. Latent growth curve models revealed that the meditation technique not only improves well-being but also prevents the development of well-being problems. The practice of focused attention meditation resulted in improvements in emotional and physical well-being and prevented the development of cognitive well-being problems that were observed within the control condition. The effects were strongest for emotional and cognitive well-being and followed a linear trend. This paper shows that the well-being effects of mindfulness-based interventions are at least in part due to the focused attention meditation that is practiced in them. Occupational groups that experience emotional, cognitive, or physical well-being issues can benefit from a few minutes of focused attention meditation per day.

Numerous initiatives are set up to gain insight into the (non-academic) careers of doctorate holders. Unfortunately, these initiatives use different methodologies, target specific groups and tap into different career aspects, making it difficult to make comparisons across groups, universities, countries and time. This article offers recommendations on how to get optimal insight into doctorate holders’ careers.

This study provides new insights into the long-term dynamics of LMX relationships. In line with the core tenets of LMX theory, we posit that the evolution of LMX relationships follows a pattern characterized by an increase from its start and a decrease towards its end. However, we suggest that at any time this pattern may be disrupted and changed by asymmetric exchange, e.g. a one-sided investment in the relationship that is abruptly higher or lower than usual, and thus diverges from the previous exchange pattern. On the basis of a longitudinal sample of 789 members, covering seven datapoints over one year, and using discontinuous growth curve modeling, we found that LMX evolution during development was bell-shaped and decreased towards dissolution. Positive asymmetric exchange led to an instant rise of LMX quality and was followed by gradual improvement of LMX quality. Negative exchange had a detrimental effect on the relationship, without subsequent restoration to previous quality levels. Our findings stress the need for further longitudinal research on LMX and how and why it may change.