Impact of Mindfulness on Well-Being among Academic Staff in Sri Lankan Universities

Abstract

Improving the well-being of university academic staff is essential for maintaining the quality and sustainability of higher education in Sri Lanka. Academic staff members have multiple duties, including teaching, research, and administration. These, combined with poor institutional support, stringent timelines, and emotional stress, have the capacity to lead to high stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction, which negatively affect their professional functioning. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discuss effective means of preserving the emotional and mental state of academic staff. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of mindfulness on the well being of Sri Lankan state university academic staff. The main focus was to test whether mindfulness, in itself, is related to the well-being of academic staff, which was the dependent variable. Mindfulness was identified through measures such as present-moment awareness, non-judgement, non-reactivity, describing and observing. Well-being was assessed using indicators such as life well-being, workplace well-being, and psychological well-being. A quantitative method was employed to gather data from 107 academic staff members who work at various state universities. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, and data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25 version. The analysis involved descriptive statistics to summarise the data, as well as correlation and regression analysis to explore the relationship between mindfulness and well-being. Accordingly, the independent variable, mindfulness, showed a significant positive effect on wellbeing among academic staff (β = 0.549, p < .001). Regression confirmed mindfulness as a strong predictor (R² = .301, p < .001The study found a strong positive link between mindfulness and wellbeing, with higher mindfulness linked to better emotional control, less stress, and greater job and life satisfaction. Regression analysis confirmed mindfulness as a key predictor of well-being. It recommends integrating mindfulness training into university staff development to improve stress management, mental health, work-life balance, and performance. The study is limited to Sri Lankan state universities, relies on self-reports, and has a cross-sectional design, but adds valuable insight from a non-Western context.