However, a UK-based research project, the largest of its kind on the topic, suggests that teaching mindfulness in schools may be a dead end – at least as a one-size-fits-all, one-size-fits-all approach.
The study, which involved 28,000 children, 650 teachers and 100 schools, looked at the impact of mindfulness training over an eight-year period and found that the technique did not help the mental health and well-being of 11- to 14-year-olds. The authors suggested exploring other avenues for improving adolescent mental health.
“Adolescence is an extremely important developmental time,” said Willem Kuiken, professor of mindfulness and psychology at the Sir John Rietblatt Family Foundation at the University of Oxford and one of the lead researchers involved in the project. “The brain undergoes important and fundamental changes in adolescence that determine the trajectory of people’s lives.”
Adults at risk of depression benefit from learning mindfulness skills, previous studies have found, and researchers hoped that imparting these skills to young people in early adolescence would be a way to nip mental health problems in the bud. And schools, where young people spend most of their waking lives, were seen as the perfect place to provide these skills in a stigma-free way.
Mindfulness training involves learning how to pay attention, be in the moment, and understand and manage feelings and behaviors to better cope with stress and promote good mental health.
“There’s been a lot of interest (from) policymakers over the last 10 years in this issue, and the overall message we’re giving policymakers is: be careful and be cautious because enthusiasm is ahead of the evidence,” said Mark Williams, professor emeritus and founding director of the Oxford Center for awareness at the University of Oxford, at a news briefing.
The five studies were published in the journal Evidence-Based Mental Health on Tuesday.
Lack of student engagement
In a randomized controlled trial – considered the gold standard of research – 41 schools continued with social-emotional learning, which was already part of the standard school curriculum for pupils aged 11 to 14, while teachers in another 41 schools were trained in teaching of mindfulness training, giving students 10 lessons lasting 30 to 50 minutes. The program has already been found to be effective in some smaller studies.
There is no evidence that school-based mindfulness training is better than usual teaching in preventing mental health problems after one year. And for those with existing mental health problems, the research shows it can make difficulties worse, suggesting future research should examine different approaches for different children – although there were no serious adverse outcomes.
After the initial course, the mindfulness program improved teachers’ mental health and reduced burnout, as well as improved some dimensions of school culture, such as leadership involvement, a climate of respect, and a positive attitude toward teaching. However, after one year, these effects had almost disappeared. The course is intended for a course for children in the first or second year of secondary school. There was no additional specific mindfulness training as part of the study.
In analyzing their data, the researchers found that the technique worked better in the older children participating in the study than in the younger cohort. However, the research team said many of the children involved simply didn’t like the mindfulness training.
“Most students have not committed to the program. On average, they trained just once during the 10 weeks of the course. And it’s like going to the gym once and hoping you’ll get in shape. But why haven’t they practiced? Why? Because a lot of them found it boring,” Williams said.
The researchers suggest that peer-based approaches to teaching mindfulness may be a better alternative (such as having older students teach the lessons) plus using things like sports, art, computer games and music as tools to teach mindfulness. these skills. The team also stressed the importance of considering systemic issues such as deprivation and inequality when looking to improve young people’s mental health.
“Rather than suggesting ways for children to improve their mental learning, perhaps what we need to do is design schools so that the whole school, climate and culture of a school actually supports the mental health and well-being of young people,” Kuiken said at the briefing.
As part of the research project, the team also reviewed and analyzed 66 other randomized controlled trials of mindfulness programs involving 20,100 young people. The researchers found that the mindfulness programs did produce small improvements in mindfulness skills, attention, self-control, antisocial behavior, anxiety, and stress, but that the benefits were not sustained a year later.
“Disappointing” results
For schools and teachers who found mindfulness skills useful, the advice was to keep going.
“We’re not saying that all mindfulness training should stop. But schools should look and see how they are accepted at your school. Students are often the best experts on what works for them in the field. Do the same and the young people in your school enjoys? Do they say they get anything from it? If so, you have something worth keeping. And if, as (it’s) refined, mindfulness starts to change (school) climate and reduce teacher burnout, they’re important, they’re right,” Williams said.
Dan O’Hare, co-chair of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Educational and Child Psychology, said it was important to tailor mental health support to individual children and their circumstances. The British Psychological Society co-owns the Evidence-Based Journal of Mental Health.
“It is important not to view mindfulness sessions as a panacea and as a ready-made product that can simply help teenagers and their teachers become ‘more resilient’ without assessing all other influencing factors such as the school environment,” said O’Hare, who was not involved in the research, in a news release.
Dame Till Wykes, professor and head of the School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, said the results were disappointing.
“Despite the potential for teaching mindfulness in secondary schools, this rigorous trial did not show an overall benefit for adolescents. It’s disappointing because there was some hope of an easy solution, especially for those who might develop depression,” she told the Science Media Center in London.
“The only optimistic aspect of the study is its positive effect on teachers. One might assume that this was because the techniques were personally beneficial to the teachers, or that they were pleased to have some intervention to offer their students.’
Add Comment