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Mindfulness is the latest addition to the armamentarium of cognitive behavioral therapists. Mindfulness methods from the wisdom traditions, as well as from current psychological theories, are beginning to be used as cognitive behavioral strategies for alleviating psychological distress and for personal transformation. The use of mindfulness as a clinical tool is in its infancy, with attendant growing pains in theory, research and practice. We briefly discuss the historical context of the use of mindfulness, recent developments in theory, research and practice, and future developments. We conclude that mindfulness shows a lot of promise as a clinical treatment modality, but there are inherent pitfalls in the developing approaches.
Students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulty with academic work in school because they are inattentive and disruptive as a result of the core systems of their disorder. In addition to behavioral challenges frequently associated with ADHD, these students may also have deficits in working memory, planning and organization compound their problem and often lead to poor academic outcomes. Meditation has been shown to increase attention and executive functioning in a number of populations, including students with ADHD. Using an interrupted time series experimental design, 20 5th grade students with ADHD were taught Samatha meditation, and data were collected on active academic engagement in math instruction and percentage of math problems solved correctly pre- and post-training. When compared to the pre-intervention control condition, the Samatha meditation training resulted in statistically and academically significant increases in active student engagement in math instruction and percentage of math problems solved correctly. This study provides further proof of concept of the utility of Samatha meditation in enhancing academic performance in math in this population. These results suggest that Samatha meditation may enable students with ADHD to better focus their attention on academic instruction, to increase their awareness of their mind wandering during academic instruction, and to remember what they should be doing in the present moment.
There is a growing interest in the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) on youth, which has recently expanded to include the study of students in school settings. This article systematically reviewed the existing literature of applied studies using MBI with students in school settings in order to identify limitations in the scientific literature and inform future research directions. Twenty-eight studies were selected for review and were coded across multiple domains, including methodologies employed, student characteristics, intervention characteristics, and outcome variables. Results quantitatively summarized the coded variables, and strengths and limitations in the literature were subsequently identified. We conclude with specific recommendations for future interventions scientists wishing to study the utility of MBI in school settings.
There is a growing interest in the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) on youth, which has recently expanded to include the study of students in school settings. This article systematically reviewed the existing literature of applied studies using MBI with students in school settings in order to identify limitations in the scientific literature and inform future research directions. Twenty-eight studies were selected for review and were coded across multiple domains, including methodologies employed, student characteristics, intervention characteristics, and outcome variables. Results quantitatively summarized the coded variables, and strengths and limitations in the literature were subsequently identified. We conclude with specific recommendations for future interventions scientists wishing to study the utility of MBI in school settings.