School-based Mindfulness Research Articles

Beneficial Effects of School-based Mindfulness Training On Impulsivity in Healthy Adolescents: Results From a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Since impulsivity is associated with unhealthy behaviors in adolescents, interventions targeting impulsivity could positively affect such behaviors. Whether integrating mindfulness training (MT) into standard school-based health education could improve impulsivity is unknown. To obtain preliminary estimates of effect of MT integrated in standard high school health education on impulsivity. Two high schools in Massachusetts were randomized to school-based health education plus MT (HE-MT) or to health education plus attention control (HE-AC). The outcome was change in impulsivity at end of treatment (EOT) and 6 months after EOT. Students (n=53; 30 HE-MT, 23 HE-AC) were on average 14.5 years old and 40% belonged to ethnic minorities. Compared to the control condition, HE-MT had significant effects on impulsivity at EOT (beta = -9.7; SE = 3.8, p = 0.01), while smaller, non-significant differences were seen 6 months after EOT. This rigorous pilot study suggests that MT could have a beneficial effect on impulsivity in adolescents. Improvements in impulsivity could have important implications should future larger studies show that such improvements result in healthier behaviors.

School-based mindfulness intervention supports adolescent resiliency: A randomized controlled pilot study

ABSTRACTThis research evaluated the effects of a seven-session mindfulness intervention, Learning to BREATHE, on an ethnically diverse at-risk high school student sample. Two classrooms were randomly assigned to intervention or normal health-education programming. Results indicated significant effects to self-reported psychosocial resilience, with students receiving the intervention reporting stable levels of resilience over time and students in the control condition reporting significant reductions. Intervention groups did not evidence change to self-reported psychosocial problem behavior, school attendance, and quarterly academic grades. Findings suggest that MBI may offer an effective strategy for enhancing student dispositional resilience, and suggestions for further research are offered.

Exploring experiences of children in applying a school-based mindfulness programme to their lives

Evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for children and young people’s well-being is growing, particularly within educational settings. To date, very few studies have explored how children experience and apply mindfulness. This qualitative study investigated how children who received long-term mindfulness training applied mindfulness to their everyday lives. Year 6 Children (average age 11) were interviewed in three focus groups with their peers, in a semi-structured format, and the data was analysed using an inductive thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the children described mindfulness as assisting with their emotion regulation. Four themes were identified: (1) processes of emotion regulation (2) dysregulation prompt to apply mindfulness (3) challenges and strategies and (4) the conditions that support or hinder mindfulness use. These findings are discussed in the context of theories and evidence on emotion regulation, attachment, and mechanisms of mindfulness. Implications of these findings for future research of meditation-based approaches in schools, for example, self-compassion and kindness practices, are considered.

Applying Behavioral Theory to Increase Mindfulness Practice Among Adolescents: an Exploratory Intervention Study Using a Within-Trial RCT Design

For mindfulness programs to have sustained benefits, participants should continue to practice mindfulness independently. Behavioral theories have been used to predict and change other health behaviors, but have rarely been applied to mindfulness practice. This research aimed to identify predictors/determinants of sustained mindfulness practice after a school-based mindfulness program (Study 1) and to develop and test a booster intervention to increase mindfulness practice (Study 2). These studies were embedded in a larger trial evaluating a school-based mindfulness program involving 12–15 year-olds (Healthy Learning Mind, HLM). Study 1 examined theory-based predictors of mindfulness practice among participants in Batch 1 of the HLM trial (n = 310). These findings were used to develop a brief motivational booster intervention, which Study 2 evaluated in a within-trial cluster-randomized controlled trial in Batch 3 of the HLM trial (HLM Only arm n = 177; HLM + booster arm n = 152). In Study 1, 40% of youths reported having practiced mindfulness at a 6-month follow-up. The perception that peers were practicing mindfulness exercises predicted mindfulness practice (β = .497, p = .002), and a key self-reported reason for non-practice was that they did not find mindfulness useful. The booster intervention (designed to specifically target these descriptive norms and outcome expectations) demonstrated some positive trends in the determinants of mindfulness practice, but did not increase mindfulness practice. The limited effectiveness of the booster intervention might be explained by the minimal contact time of the booster intervention or its delivery in the later lessons of HLM. This study demonstrates how behavior change theories can be applied to help promote independent mindfulness practice outside of intervention settings.

Attuning to Crisscross Applesauce as Affective Flow and Material Agency in a Public K-5 Classroom: Studying School-Based Mindfulness Under Sociomaterial Circumstances

In this article, the authors illustrate efforts toward adopting methods germane to the emerging field of sociomaterial studies while examining the integration of schoolwide mindfulness practices. Informed by a posthumanist perspective, sociomaterial studies in education work to reveal the ways in which the bodily and other material aspects of educational practice are entangled with the social contexts of schooling. Significance of this discussion includes the ways in which aspects of the study’s methodology shift conventional humanist models for researching educational meanings held by students, teachers, and researchers, to include a perspective that promotes a focus on the social- with-material dimensions of data, analysis and their multisensory productions.

Qualitative exploration of a targeted school-based mindfulness course in England.

Mindfulness-based training has been shown to provide benefits for adults with numerous conditions such as cancer, chronic pain, and depression. However, less is known about its impact for young people. Early adolescence (typically 10-14years) is a time fraught with challenges such as cognitive changes, social, and academic pressures in the form of exams, all of which can provoke anxiety. While there is a lack of effectiveness studies, there is growing interest in the potential for school-based mindfulness programmes to help young people cope with the pressures of modern life. This study outlines a qualitative exploration of a school-based targeted mindfulness course. We interviewed 16 young people who had taken part in a 10-week mindfulness course, and held a focus group with three members of teaching staff who delivered the programme. Interviews and focus groups were analysed using applied thematic analysis. While young people felt that they had to take part, once they started the programme they enjoyed it. Young people felt that they learned a range of coping skills, and it had a positive impact on their behaviour. However, the targeted approach of the intervention could lead to young people being stigmatised by their peers. Teaching staff could see the potential benefit of mindfulness courses in schools but felt there were some barriers to be overcome if it were to be implemented in the long term. Young people were willing to engage in mindful practice and felt it better equipped them to deal with stressful situations.

School-based Mindfulness Instruction for Urban Middle-School Males

Background Urban youth are exposed to significant and recurrent stress and trauma, related to community and interpersonal violence, failing schools, and lack of educational opportunities. There is increasing interest in opportunities for male youth to learn techniques that support enhanced self-regulation. Previous research has shown that mindfulness instruction can reduce the negative effects of stress and trauma and improve self-regulation. We aimed to test the effect of school-based mindfulness instruction for urban male youth in the public …

School-based Mindfulness Instruction for Urban Middle-School Males

School-based Mindfulness Instruction for Urban Middle-School Males

A Randomized Trial Evaluating School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Ethnic Minority Youth: Exploring Mediators and Moderators of Intervention Effects.

The study examined the efficacy of a school-based mindfulness intervention on mental health and emotion regulation outcomes among adolescents in a wait-list controlled trial. The study also explored mediators and moderators of intervention effects. A total of 145 predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms were randomized to receive a 12-week mindfulness intervention at the start of the academic year, or in the second semester of the year. Students completed measures of emotion regulation and mental health symptoms at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed significant treatment effects of the mindfulness intervention for internalizing symptoms and perceived stress at post-treatment. Pooled pre-to-post treatment analyses of the entire sample revealed a small effect size for attention problems, medium for internalizing and externalizing problems, and large for perceived stress. We also found a small effect size for cognitive reappraisal, medium for expressive suppression, emotional processing, emotional expression, and rumination and large for avoidance fusion. Mediation analyses showed that treatment effects on internalizing symptoms and perceived stress were mediated by reductions in expressive suppression and rumination. Moderation analyses revealed that treatment effects were larger among youth with more severe problems at baseline for internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and perceived stress. However, for attention problems, students with lower severity at baseline appeared to have larger treatment gains. The study provided evidence that mindfulness intervention was beneficial for low-income ethnic minority youth in reducing perceived stress and internalizing problems, and improving emotion regulation outcomes. Furthermore, mindfulness training was associated with reduced mental health symptoms via improvements in emotion regulation.

Gender differences in response to a school-based mindfulness training intervention for early adolescents

Mindfulness training has been used to improve emotional wellbeing in early adolescents. However, little is known about treatment outcome moderators, or individual differences that may differentially impact responses to treatment. The current study focused on gender as a potential moderator for affective outcomes in response to school-based mindfulness training. Sixth grade students (N = 100) were randomly assigned to either the six weeks of mindfulness meditation or the active control group as part of a history class curriculum. Participants in the mindfulness meditation group completed short mindfulness meditation sessions four to five times per week, in addition to didactic instruction (Asian history). The control group received matched experiential activity in addition to didactic instruction (African history) from the same teacher with no meditation component. Self-reported measures of emotional wellbeing/affect, mindfulness, and self-compassion were obtained at pre and post intervention. Meditators reported greater improvement in emotional wellbeing compared to those in the control group. Importantly, gender differences were detected, such that female meditators reported greater increases in positive affect compared to females in the control group, whereas male meditators and control males displayed equivalent gains. Uniquely among females but not males, increases in self-reported self-compassion were associated with improvements in affect. These findings support the efficacy of school-based mindfulness interventions, and interventions tailored to accommodate distinct developmental needs of female and male adolescents.

Effects of school-based mindfulness training on emotion processing and well-being in adolescents: evidence from event-related potentials.

In a non‐randomized controlled study, we investigated the efficacy of a school‐based mindfulness curriculum delivered by schoolteachers to older secondary school students (16–18 years). We measured changes in emotion processing indexed by P3b event‐related potential (ERP) modulations in an affective oddball task using static human faces. ERPs were recorded to happy and sad face oddballs presented in a stimulus stream of frequent faces with neutral expression, before and after 8 weeks of mindfulness training. Whilst the mean amplitude of the P3b, an ERP component typically elicited by infrequent oddballs, decreased between testing sessions in the control group, it remained unchanged in the training group. Significant increases in self‐reported well‐being and fewer doctor visits for mental health support were also reported in the training group as compared to controls. The observed habituation to emotional stimuli in controls thus contrasted with maintained sensitivity in mindfulness‐trained students. These results suggest that in‐school mindfulness training for adolescents has scope for increasing awareness of socially relevant emotional stimuli, irrespective of valence, and thus may decrease vulnerability to depression.

Mindfulness in education: the case of Singapore

ABSTRACTSince the formal introduction of mindfulness-based practices (MBPs) into clinical settings in the late 1970s, a growing body of research has demonstrated their benefits in diverse settings, from clinical programmes, business and sports, to education. Along with the development of standardised mindfulness-based programmes in the areas of clinical therapy, counselling, self-enhancement, and corporate training, standardised curricula for school-based mindfulness have become available, and are gaining popularity around the world. However, the adoption of MBPs in schools in Singapore, whether formally or informally, seems to be lagging behind that of counterparts in countries such as Australia, the UK, and the USA. This paper describes the current state of mindfulness-in-education in Singapore, focusing on the extent and ways in which MBPs are incorporated into the local school setting. Included are brief introductions to mindfulness, mindfulness in education, and mindfulness-in-education research in Asia. Local research and continuing efforts in the area, as well as challenges and future directions are discussed.

The Child’s Voice in Determining Program Acceptability for a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

School-based mindfulness interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing mental health symptoms. However, comparatively little research has investigated the acceptability of these programs from the perspective of the children. Program acceptability underpins engagement, and more engaging programs are also more efficacious (Cowan & Sheridan, 2003; Mautone et al., 2009) yet there is little literature which has considered the acceptability of school-based mindfulness programs. To address this gap, semi-structured interviews were conducted with upper primary aged children (N = 30) who had participated in a six week mindfulness program in four Australian primary schools. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed children found the program to be acceptable. Children reported that they enjoyed doing the mindfulness program, would recommend it to others, and learned about relaxing as well as felt relaxed while doing the program. Children also highlighted the use of culturally appropriate teaching materials and possible stigmatisation as threats to the acceptability of the program. The results of the study support the acceptability of mindfulness programs in school settings, grounded in the unique perspective of the child.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Interventions for Mental Health in Schools: a Comprehensive Meta-analysis

Mindfulness interventions have increasingly been incorporated in elementary and high school classrooms to support students’ mental health and well-being; however, there is little research examining the specific factors contributing to the effectiveness of the interventions. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the specific effects of and moderators contributing to school-based mindfulness interventions for mental health in youth. A systematic review of studies published in PsycINFO, ERIC, Social Work Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and CINAHL was conducted. A total of 24 studies (n = 3977) were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, mindfulness interventions were found to be helpful, with small to moderate significant effects pre-post intervention compared to control groups (Hedges’ g = 0.24, p < .001); however, interventions that were delivered during late adolescence (15–18) and that consisted of combinations of various mindfulness activities had the largest effects on mental health and well-being outcomes. Furthermore, the effects on specific mindfulness and mental health outcomes differed according to whether the intervention was delivered by an outside facilitator compared to trained educators/teachers. These results suggest that individual differences and program characteristics can impact receptivity and effectiveness of mindfulness training. These findings represent a significant contribution as they can be used to inform future designs and applications of mindfulness interventions in the school setting.

“Your Brain Becomes a Rainbow”: Perceptions and Traits of 4th-Graders in a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

ABSTRACTAlthough mindfulness, or the self-regulation of attention, has been found beneficial in reducing teacher stress and burnout and in increasing students’ cognitive and emotional regulatory skills, no study has explored students’ attitudes toward meditation practices in depth. This mixed-methods study reports results from a randomized, controlled trial of a 10-week mindfulness intervention in a public school setting with 28 4th-grade students from lower income and ethnic minority backgrounds. Over the course of the intervention, students were asked to respond to writing and drawing prompts about their feelings and attitudes toward mindfulness. At the end of the intervention, the experimental teacher rated students on how often they had practiced mindfulness breathing during class. Qualitative analysis of journal entries yielded personality traits of students who were receptive or resistant to mindfulness training. Practical strategies for identifying and remediating resistant students and for implementing mindfulness interventions in a school setting are discussed.

Women Benefit More Than Men in Response to College-based Meditation Training.

Objectives: While recent literature has shown that mindfulness training has positive effects on treating anxiety and depression, there has been virtually no research investigating whether effects differ across genders—despite the fact that men and women differ in clinically significant ways. The current study investigated whether college-based meditation training had different effects on negative affect for men and women.Methods: Seventy-seven university students (36 women, age = 20.7 ± 3.0 years) participated in 12-week courses with meditation training components. They completed self-report questionnaires of affect, mindfulness, and self-compassion before and after the course.Results: Compared to men, women showed greater decreases in negative affect and greater increases on scales measuring mindfulness and self-compassion. Women’s improvements in negative affect were correlated to improvements in measures of both mindfulness skills and self-compassion. In contrast, men showed non-significant increases in negative affect, and changes in affect were only correlated with ability to describe emotions, not any measures of experiential or self-acceptance.Conclusion: These findings suggest that women may have more favorable responses than men to school-based mindfulness training, and that the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions may be maximized by gender-specific modifications.

A Promising Practice: School-Based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Children with Disabilities

Abstract Adults and children around the world are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress. More specifically, the stress levels that children report can have detrimental effects on their social-emotional, physical and academic well-being. Schools are in a unique position to not only address the causes of stress in children's lives, but to also provide strategies to reduce stress. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is one approach that schools can use to teach children how to acknowledge and deal with everyday stressors. This article aims to provide a definition of stress, describe MBSR, and provide a review of the current literature on MBSR studies with children. Additionally, the authors suggest implications for school-based mindfulness approaches to reduce the stress of children with disabilities, and recommendations for future research.

Preschool and school-based mindfulness programmes for improving mental health and cognitive functioning in young people aged 3 to 18 years

Preschool and school-based mindfulness programmes for improving mental health and cognitive functioning in young people aged 3 to 18 years

Social Validity Assessment of Mindfulness Education and Practices Among High School Students

ABSTRACTThe authors describe social validity assessment of mindfulness education and practices among high school students (N = 84) participating in a 10-week instructional program. The participants rated their satisfaction with and acceptance of several program components, content areas, and outcomes, as well as their engagement in specific mindfulness practices. Nearly all of the participants rated the program favorably, reported many beneficial effects, and anticipated future use of mindfulness in their lives. They did not routinely perform voluntary formal guided meditations beyond the classroom but did engage in informal mindfulness practices preceding certain activities (e.g., preparing for a test, athletic competition, performance event) and going to sleep at night. The authors discuss these findings and the implications for designing school-based mindfulness education programs.

Supporting emotional well-being in schools: a pilot study into the efficacy of a mindfulness-based group intervention on anxious and depressive symptoms in children

ABSTRACTObjective: This study examines the efficacy of a six week child mindfulness program (TRIPLE R) in teaching mindfulness skills and reducing negative emotional symptoms in a school setting.Method: Using a correlational within-subjects repeated measures design, the relationships between child self-reported mindfulness skills and negative emotional symptoms were explored. Mindfulness skills were measured using the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, and emotional symptoms were measured using the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale. A sample of 57 Australian grade 5 children in three primary schools completed the measures pre and post intervention.Results: There was a small to moderate increase in mindfulness skills post intervention (Cohen’s d = 0.32), however negative emotional symptoms did not significantly improve. Increased mindfulness skills were significantly associated with decreased emotional symptoms, most notably for symptoms related to social phobia (R = −.61), separation anxiety (R = −.42) and generalised anxiety (R = −.32).Discussion: This study provides preliminary support for the TRIPLE R program and the potential benefits of school-based mindfulness interventions in improving children’s well-being. The limited improvement in negative emotional symptoms is likely related to the non-clinical sampling. The relationship between increased mindfulness skills and decreased emotional symptoms is discussed, and recommendations for further research are presented.