The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 1982, 1990) training on a self-selected adult community sample in the areas of mindfulness, rumination, depressive symptomatology and overall well-being. Targeting rumination was considered particularly important because a tendency toward rumination in nondepressed populations has been found to be predictive of subsequent onset of depression. As hypothesized, completers of the MBSR class showed increases in mindfulness and overall wellbeing, and decreases in rumination and symptoms of depression. Limitations of the study are discussed, as are the implications of these findings.
Using a randomized wait-list controlled design, this study evaluated the effects of a novel intervention, mindfulness-based relationship enhancement, designed to enrich the relationships of relatively happy, nondistressed couples. Results suggested the intervention was efficacious in (a) favorably impacting couples' levels of relationship satisfaction, autonomy, relatedness, closeness, acceptance of one another, and relationship distress; (b) beneficially affecting individuals' optimism, spirituality, relaxation, and psychological distress; and (c) maintaining benefits at 3-month follow-up. Those who practiced mindfulness more had better outcomes, and within-person analyses of diary measures showed greater mindfulness practice on a given day was associated on several consecutive days with improved levels of relationship happiness, relationship stress, stress coping efficacy, and overall stress.
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In this chapter, we describe the MindUP program: A universal, mindfulness-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program designed to be implemented in schools by regular classroom teachers. We discuss how mindfulness practices and SEL activities may be synergistic, potentially bolstering the efficacy of each, and describe the iterative process of developing, implementing, and evaluating a program that includes both elements. We suggest that the transitional years of pre- and early adolescence (i.e., 9-12 year olds) may be a particularly effective time to introduce mindfulness practices to young people. We emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research in evaluating mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for students and teachers alike, research that utilizes mixed-method designs and that examines multiple outcomes from multiple observers (e.g., self-reports, teacher reports, peer reports). To illustrate our perspective on implementation science and mindfulness programs in education, we provide an overview of several studies conducted on MindUP. Furthermore, we report findings from research examining students’ and teachers’ descriptions of their experiences with MindUP as a way in which to further understand the program’s effectiveness from the perspectives of the consumers. Finally, we discuss potential directions for future research on mindfulness-based SEL programs.
<p>The effects of randomization to mindfulness training (MT) or to a waitlist-control condition on psychological and physiological indicators of teachers’ occupational stress and burnout were examined in 2 field trials. The sample included 113 elementary and secondary school teachers (89% female) from Canada and the United States. Measures were collected at baseline, post-program, and 3-month follow-up; teachers were randomly assigned to condition after baseline assessment. Results showed that 87% of teachers completed the program and found it beneficial. Teachers randomized to MT showed greater mindfulness, focused attention and working memory capacity, and occupational self-compassion, as well as lower levels of occupational stress and burnout at post-program and follow-up, than did those in the control condition. No statistically significant differences due to MT were found for physiological measures of stress. Mediational analyses showed that group differences in mindfulness and self-compassion at post-program mediated reductions in stress and burnout as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression at follow-up. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed.</p>
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The effects of randomization to mindfulness training (MT) or to a waitlist-control condition on psychological and physiological indicators of teachers’ occupational stress and burnout were examined in 2 field trials. The sample included 113 elementary and secondary school teachers (89% female) from Canada and the United States. Measures were collected at baseline, post-program, and 3-month follow-up; teachers were randomly assigned to condition after baseline assessment. Results showed that 87% of teachers completed the program and found it beneficial. Teachers randomized to MT showed greater mindfulness, focused attention and working memory capacity, and occupational self-compassion, as well as lower levels of occupational stress and burnout at post-program and follow-up, than did those in the control condition. No statistically significant differences due to MT were found for physiological measures of stress. Mediational analyses showed that group differences in mindfulness and self-compassion at post-program mediated reductions in stress and burnout as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression at follow-up. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed.
The effects of randomization to mindfulness training (MT) or to a waitlist-control condition on psychological and physiological indicators of teachers’ occupational stress and burnout were examined in 2 field trials. The sample included 113 elementary and secondary school teachers (89% female) from Canada and the United States. Measures were collected at baseline, post-program, and 3-month follow-up; teachers were randomly assigned to condition after baseline assessment. Results showed that 87% of teachers completed the program and found it beneficial. Teachers randomized to MT showed greater mindfulness, focused attention and working memory capacity, and occupational self-compassion, as well as lower levels of occupational stress and burnout at post-program and follow-up, than did those in the control condition. No statistically significant differences due to MT were found for physiological measures of stress. Mediational analyses showed that group differences in mindfulness and self-compassion at post-program mediated reductions in stress and burnout as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression at follow-up. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed.
Mindfulness training offers one approach to promote self-regulation, and potentially, to improve long-term developmental outcomes. Although mindfulness training programs are geared primarily for adults, there have been advancements in the development of programs designed for children and adolescents. In this chapter, we focus on one mindfulness training program called Inner Kids and the impact it might have on self-regulation and other important health constructs. The objectives of this chapter are to define self-regulation and consider its relation to other conceptually similar constructs and its developmental trajectory across childhood and adolescence; provide a brief overview of mindfulness; and offer a discussion of how mindfulness training might promote self-regulation. We then turn to a discussion of Inner Kids, as well as to results of a randomized controlled trial testing the program’s beneficial effect on self-regulation in second- and third-grade children. We conclude with specific recommendations for future research.
BACKGROUND: Women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have average life expectancies of about 2 years, and report high levels of disease-related symptoms including pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, psychological distress, and functional impairment. There is growing recognition of the limitations of medical approaches to managing such symptoms. Yoga is a mind-body discipline that has demonstrated a positive impact on psychological and functional health in early stage breast cancer patients and survivors, but has not been rigorously studied in advanced cancer samples.METHODS: This randomized controlled trial examines the feasibility and initial efficacy of a Mindful Yoga program, compared with a social support condition that controls for attention, on measures of disease-related symptoms such as pain and fatigue. The study will be completed by December 2017. Sixty-five women with MBC age ≥ 18 are being identified and randomized with a 2:1 allocation to Mindful Yoga or a support group control intervention. The 120-min intervention sessions take place weekly for 8 weeks. The study is conducted at an urban tertiary care academic medical center located in Durham, North Carolina. The primary feasibility outcome is attendance at intervention sessions. Efficacy outcomes include pain, fatigue, sleep quality, psychological distress, mindfulness and functional capacity at post-intervention, 3-month follow-up, and 6-month follow-up.
DISCUSSION: In this article, we present the challenges of designing a randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up among women with MBC. These challenges include ensuring adequate recruitment including of minorities, limiting and controlling for selection bias, tailoring of the yoga intervention to address special needs, and maximizing adherence and retention. This project will provide important information regarding yoga as an intervention for women with advanced cancer, including preliminary data on the psychological and functional effects of yoga for MBC patients. This investigation will also establish rigorous methods for future research into yoga as an intervention for this population.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifer: NCT01927081 , registered August 16, 2013.
Longitudinal social network analysis (SNA) was used to examine how a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention may be associated with peer socialization on academic performance. Fifth graders (N = 631; 48 % girls; 9 to 12 years) were recruited from six elementary schools. Intervention classrooms (14) received a relationship building intervention (RBI) and control classrooms (8) received elementary school as usual. At pre- and post-test, students nominated their friends, and teachers completed assessments of students' writing and math performance. The results of longitudinal SNA suggested that the RBI was associated with friend selection and peer influence within the classroom peer network. Friendship choices were significantly more diverse (i.e., less evidence of social segregation as a function of ethnicity and academic ability) in intervention compared to control classrooms, and peer influence on improved writing and math performance was observed in RBI but not control classrooms. The current findings provide initial evidence that SEL interventions may change social processes in a classroom peer network and may break down barriers of social segregation and improve academic performance.
Longitudinal social network analysis (SNA) was used to examine how a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention may be associated with peer socialization on academic performance. Fifth graders (N = 631; 48 % girls; 9 to 12 years) were recruited from six elementary schools. Intervention classrooms (14) received a relationship building intervention (RBI) and control classrooms (8) received elementary school as usual. At pre- and post-test, students nominated their friends, and teachers completed assessments of students' writing and math performance. The results of longitudinal SNA suggested that the RBI was associated with friend selection and peer influence within the classroom peer network. Friendship choices were significantly more diverse (i.e., less evidence of social segregation as a function of ethnicity and academic ability) in intervention compared to control classrooms, and peer influence on improved writing and math performance was observed in RBI but not control classrooms. The current findings provide initial evidence that SEL interventions may change social processes in a classroom peer network and may break down barriers of social segregation and improve academic performance.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to describe the health benefits reported by breast cancer survivors following an 8-week yoga intervention.DESIGN: This phenomenological study employed three focus groups with six breast cancer survivors each (n = 18) following the yoga intervention.
SETTING: The focus groups and yoga classes were conducted in a large hospital in a midsized town in the Midwest.
SUBJECTS: Eighteen female breast cancer survivors who were at least 9 months posttreatment participated in the focus groups following the 8-week yoga intervention.
INTERVENTION: An 8-week yoga intervention designed specifically for this population was led by a yoga therapist.
MEASURES: A semistructured interview guide was utilized to guide each focus group.
ANALYSIS: Interpretative phenomenological analysis methods were employed to explore breast cancer survivors' experiences after participating in an 8-week yoga intervention.
RESULTS: The findings revealed that the women in the study found health promoting benefits in the areas of physical health and healing, mental health and healing, and social health and healing.
CONCLUSIONS: Yoga may be an important tool in the healing process for breast cancer survivors.
The study considers the impact of a program for social and emotional learning in Swedish schools on use of drugs, volatile substances, alcohol and tobacco. The program was evaluated in an effectiveness study. Intervention students were compared longitudinally with non-intervention students using nonparametric latent class analysis to identify subgroups of students with similar use levels and trajectories. Statistically significant intervention-by-duration interactions, with medium to large effect sizes to the advantage of the SET students were found for all substances in one or more, but not all, of the latent classes. Favorable trajectories were found for non-users/light users of drugs, moderate sniffers, non-users/light users of alcohol, and occasional smokers. Only among heavy smokers was there a possible iatrogenic effect of SET. Such programs, given a duration of two years or more, may dampen increases in use with age and discourage early debut, although they are not specifically targeted at use itself. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)
Among younger people in many high-income countries, mental ill-health, which includes depression, aggressive behavior, feeling down, and alcohol and drug abuse, is one of the greatest health problems. Since most young people attend school, there are grounds for pursuing the prevention of ill-health in the educational arena. A set of techniques, named social and emotional learning (SEL), based on cognitive and behavioral methods, is available to teachers to train students to improve self-control, social competence, empathy, motivation and self-awareness. SEL programs have their underpinnings in the theories of cognitive development and social learning, and in application of the ideas of risk and protective factors. The primary aim of this dissertation is to describe and evaluate, in a real-life setting, the impacts of a Swedish program derived from SEL, called social and emotional training (SET), on various mental-health outcomes. Such programs have been shown to have favorable effects in the international literature, but have not been tested before in Sweden. Sub-aims were to investigate whether there were outcome differences between subgroups, and to assess the development of an instrument for the measurement of social emotional maturity. The evaluation was performed in two experimental and two control schools (41 and 20 classes, respectively) in Botkyrka Municipality in Greater Stockholm. A variety of statistical analyses were applied to the data collected: two repeated-measures cohort analyses, with rather different designs, to measure changes over two and five years; latent-class analysis to examine variability and substance use; and, latent growth curve modeling with full maximum likelihood estimation to scrutinize our earlier findings . On the social and emotional variables, the impact of SET was found to be generally favorable. After five years, the impact of SET was found to be greater for internalizing than for externalizing problems, but no impact on socia
Many university students suffer from test anxiety that is severe enough to impair performance. Given mixed efficacy results of previous cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) trials and a theoretically driven rationale, an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) approach was compared to traditional CBT (i.e., Beckian cognitive therapy; CT) for the treatment of test anxiety. In this pilot study, 16 university students with test anxiety were randomly assigned to receive either a CT or ABBT 2-hr group workshop. The two treatments produced markedly different effects on test performance (measured by exam scores), with those receiving ABBT experiencing improvements in performance, whereas those receiving CT exhibited reduced performance. In addition, there was a suggestion that ABBT might have been more effective at reducing subjectively experienced test anxiety (i.e., a nonsignificant but medium-sized group by time interaction effect). Implications of these results for the treatment of test anxiety and for theoretical notions related to cognitive change strategies are discussed.
Many university students suffer from test anxiety that is severe enough to impair performance. Given mixed efficacy results of previous cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) trials and a theoretically driven rationale, an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) approach was compared to traditional CBT (i.e., Beckian cognitive therapy; CT) for the treatment of test anxiety. In this pilot study, 16 university students with test anxiety were randomly assigned to receive either a CT or ABBT 2-hr group workshop. The two treatments produced markedly different effects on test performance (measured by exam scores), with those receiving ABBT experiencing improvements in performance, whereas those receiving CT exhibited reduced performance. In addition, there was a suggestion that ABBT might have been more effective at reducing subjectively experienced test anxiety (i.e., a nonsignificant but medium-sized group by time interaction effect). Implications of these results for the treatment of test anxiety and for theoretical notions related to cognitive change strategies are discussed.
"[This DVD] merges yoga exercises and mindfulness techniques for youth ages 7 to 16. Developed by ... youth yoga expert, Abby Mills ... and created in collaboration with teens, the program integrates a series of movements, breathing techniques and practices that facilitate inner calm, positive attitude and a strong, healthy body. Practicing just two times per week cultivates body awareness, flexibility, concentration, stress reduction and self-expression"--Container.
The article examines the role of teachers in implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and practices in schools and classrooms. Topics covered include the advantages of classrooms with warm teacher-child relationships, the influence of teachers' beliefs on the fidelity with which they implement SEL programs and the extent to which U.S. teacher education programs prepare teacher candidates to promote their own social-emotional competence.
Social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools is a fast-growing field of research and practice that is aimed at teaching children and adolescents core social and emotional competencies that are linked to trajectories of health and success in life. This chapter reviews empirical evidence that supports the effectiveness of school-based SEL in achieving positive developmental outcomes (e.g., mental health, academic success) in children. We further explain how SEL can be taught in schools effectively and how schools can develop a sustainable approach to firmly integrate SEL into their curricula and day-to-day activities. We argue that critical next steps are teaching SEL to teachers for their own social-emotional development and providing training in SEL to preservice teachers in the context of teacher training programs, to adequately prepare them for their work as educators.
The school is an obvious arena for interventions designed to promote mental health among children. A set of educational techniques named social and emotional learning, which focuses on students' self-control, social competence, empathy, motivation and self-awareness, has shown promising results in the United States. This is a study of the application of a similar method in Sweden (referred to as social and emotional training) for school years 2000/2001 through to 2004/2005. It is an effectiveness rather than an efficacy study, largely administered by school personnel, which relates duration of the training (1-5 years) to a set of outcomes previously found to be associated with mental health. Positive and significant effects were found on five of seven variables: internalizing problems, externalizing problems, mastery (reflecting self-efficacy or hopelessness), self-image and self-esteem and contentment in school. Effect sizes were medium. Somewhat surprisingly, no relationship was found between the intervention and the promotion of social skills. Nor was there any detectable long-term impact on bullying. Controlling for student gender did not moderate any of the effects. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)
The Issue: Students need more than just academic knowledge to succeed in college, careers, and personal and public life. They need to understand their own skills and abilities, manage their emotions and behavior, communicate effectively, negotiate conflict, care about others, and make responsible decisions. Social and emotional skills undergird student success--and build better citizens. When such skills are intentionally taught, practiced, and reinforced in schools, students have better behavioral, social, and academic outcomes. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is increasingly accepted by educators and researchers as a process to cultivate life skills that foster personal development, academic achievement, and a more empathic school climate. SEL has been integrated into classes and taught in many schools, but the challenge for educators and policy makers is to better understand the most effective strategies for districtwide implementation. The
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