Abstract
This manuscript presents a demonstration study of Quiet Time (QT), a classroom-based Transcendental Meditation intervention. The aim of the study is to assess the feasibility of implementing and evaluating QT in two pilot settings in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This study contributes to the field by targeting middle childhood, testing efficiency in two settings operating under different educational systems, and including a large array of measures. First, teacher and pupil engagement with QT was assessed. Second, the feasibility of using a quasi-experimental design and a wide range of instruments to measure changes in pupil outcomes before and after the intervention was assessed. This allows us to obtain information about which instruments might be feasible to administer and most sensitive to change. The first setting included 89 students from a primary school in the United Kingdom: those in sixth grade received the QT intervention, while those in fifth grade practiced meditation using the Headspace application. The second setting included 100 fifth- and sixth-grade students from two schools in Ireland: one received the QT intervention, the other served as a control. Recruitment and retention rates were high in both settings, and the intervention was feasible and accepted by students, parents and teachers. Implementation fidelity was lower in the United Kingdom setting where delivery started later in the school year and the practice was affected by preparation for the Standard Assessment Tests. These results show that QT may be feasibly delivered in school settings, and suggest the use of a compact battery of tests to measure impact. We find suggestive evidence that the intervention affected executive function as children who practiced QT showed improved working memory in both settings. In the Irish setting, pupils in the QT group had improved ability to control responses. These results have implications for future studies by a) demonstrating that implementation fidelity is highly context dependent and b) providing suggestive evidence of the malleability of children’s skills in middle childhood. The results of this demonstration study will be used to inform a larger RCT of the QT intervention.
Highlights
A recent interdisciplinary literature has focused on the importance of developing social, emotional and executive function skills to promote well-being across the life-course (e.g., Conti and Heckman, 2014)
The specific research questions we address are: (1) are schools, parents, and students willing to engage with the QT intervention and its evaluation? (2) is it feasible to assess impact across multiple dimensions of children’s skills in schools? (3) is the QT intervention acceptable to teachers, students, and parents? and (4) which outcome measures appear most promising as indicators of QT-related change? The reminder of the manuscript is organized as follows
Of the 120 eligible parent–student pairs, 110 (92%) of parents agreed that their children could participate in the study, with 10 students opting out from the treatment group
Summary
A recent interdisciplinary literature has focused on the importance of developing social, emotional and executive function skills to promote well-being across the life-course (e.g., Conti and Heckman, 2014). Such skills have been associated with a variety of positive outcomes in adulthood, including improved physical health, better schooling, greater wealth and financial stability, and reduced criminality, risky behavior, and substance use (Heckman et al, 2006; Conti et al, 2010; Moffitt et al, 2011; Heckman and Kautz, 2013). Identifying costeffective interventions to boost socio-emotional development is important at a time when between 10 to 20 percent of children and adolescents globally experience mental health difficulties (Kieling et al, 2011). Intervention and prevention are an important policy priority (Allen, 2011), which has become even more pressing due to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to test the feasibility of implementing one such intervention in schools – transcendental meditation.
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