{"id":483,"date":"2020-04-23T14:29:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-rocs\/?p=483"},"modified":"2020-04-23T14:29:12","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:29:12","slug":"mindful-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/mindful-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindful School"},"content":{"rendered":"

Find more information about the Kent author\u00a0here<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Find related publications here <\/a><\/strong>and here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Regulatory a<\/span>bilities such as attention and<\/span> stress-<\/span>regulation are key predictors of essential developmental outcomes, including intellectual and socioemotional milestones as well as academic achievement. <\/span>This means that children who are low in regulatory abilities may struggle in academic and social contexts as well as in <\/span>close<\/span> relationships, irrespective of their intellectual abilities. <\/span>Pre<\/span>–<\/span>adolescence <\/span>has been proposed<\/span> as a period that is crucial for training these abilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of m<\/span>indfulness<\/span> practice<\/span> is <\/span>to<\/span> purposeful<\/span>ly guide<\/span> one<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>attention <\/span>to the present moment and to not judge whatever is being experience<\/span>d<\/span> (Bishop et al., 200<\/span>4)<\/span>. In this sense <\/span>mindfulness<\/span> training<\/span> can be considered a <\/span>training<\/span> of attention regulation. <\/span>In adults, mindfulness-based interventions evidently improve <\/span>attention, <\/span>stress and emotion regulation (Brown & Ryan, 2003<\/span>; Chiesa et al., 2011<\/span>)<\/span>. <\/span>Even if the evi<\/span>dence base for children<\/span> and adolescents<\/span> has so far been<\/span> relatively less comprehensive, initial studies suggest mindfulness-benefits for this target group, too (Broderick & Jennings, 2012).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research Objectives<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2022 \u00a0To investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness training for improving pre-ado<\/span>lescents\u2019 attention and stress regulation as well as <\/span>school-related abilities<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Programme and Methodology<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2022 \u00a010-11 year-old pupils of a secondary school in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, participated <\/span>in <\/span>2<\/span> training session<\/span>s<\/span> per week<\/span> over a period of 4 months<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 One group of pupils received an adapted <\/span>Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction<\/span> (MBSR; <\/span>Kabat<\/span>-Zinn, 2005) programme<\/span>. <\/span>Another group of pupils received <\/span>a training <\/span>that helped them to<\/span> better concentrate <\/span>(<\/span>Krowatschek<\/span>, <\/span>Krowatschek<\/span>, & Reid, 2011)<\/span>,<\/span> as a control condition<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Attention regulation, s<\/span>tress-regulation and school-related outcomes<\/span> were tested<\/span> before and after the intervention period<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Attention regulation was assessed via computer-based tasks (vigilance test, interpretation of ambiguous images, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, <\/span>Stroop<\/span> test, visual search task, face recognition task), and a self-report questionnaire of impulsivity<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Stress-regulat<\/span>ion <\/span>was measured<\/span> via the stress hormone<\/span> cortisol <\/span>and the enzyme \u03b1-amylase as <\/span>extracted from salivary samples<\/span>, and through a self-report questionnaire on coping strategies<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0School-related abilities <\/span>were indicated<\/span> by a test of verbal memory<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0A further gro<\/span>up of pupils underwent attention<\/span> and questionnaire-based <\/span>test<\/span>ing<\/span>s<\/span> without receiving any training<\/span> to control for effects of schooling and maturation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Findings<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Specific benefits of mindfulness training were found for:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Attention regulation in terms of cognitive inhibition <\/span>(demonstrated<\/span> by the <\/span>Stroop<\/span> test) and data-driven information processing<\/span> (reflected<\/span> by the face recognition task)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0School-related abilities in terms of verbal memory<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0P<\/span>upils<\/span> that received mindfulness training improved physiological stress-regulation (indexed by cortisol and <\/span>\u03b1-amylase) to the same extent as children that received <\/span>the c<\/span>oncentration <\/span>t<\/span>raining<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2022 \u00a0This project offers\u00a0<\/span>new and important insight<\/span><\/b> on <\/span>the effectiveness of mindfulness training:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Increased attention, stress regulation, and school-related outcomes in pre-adolescents.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 This project offers<\/span>\u00a0clear suggestions to educators and governmental policies:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Mindfulness training should be incorporated in regular school curricula<\/span><\/b> to promote particular<\/span> regulatory abilities <\/span>relevant to well-being and academic achievement. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0<\/b>The school collaborating in this project has realised this suggestion.
\nThe research team trained and continuously supervised interested teachers with regard to the concept of mindfulness and its delivery to pupils. <\/span>\u00a0I<\/span>mplemen<\/span>ting mindfulness training under scientific advice resulted in two awards for this school: <\/span>\u201cStrong Kids Advancement Award\u201d (AOK <\/span>Rheinland<\/span>\/Hamburg, 2015), First Place, <\/span>Cornelsen<\/span> Foundation Prize (<\/span>Didacta<\/span> 2016).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related publications:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wimmer<\/span>, L., von Stockhausen, L., & <\/span>Bellingrath<\/span>, S. (2019). <\/span>Effects of mindfulness training on regulatory and academic abilities in preadolescents: Results from a pilot study. <\/span>Open Psychology, 1<\/span><\/i>, 69-93. doi:10.1515\/psych-2018-0006<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wimmer, L., Bellingrath, S., & von Stockhausen, L. (2016). <\/span>Cognitive Effects of Mindfulness Training: Results of a Pilot Study Based on a Theory Driven Approach. <\/span>Frontiers in Psychology, 7<\/span><\/i>. doi:doi:10.3389\/fpsyg.2016.01037<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Find more information about the Kent author\u00a0here Find related publications here and here About\u00a0 Regulatory abilities such as attention and stress-regulation are key predictors of essential developmental outcomes, including intellectual and socioemotional milestones as well as academic achievement. This means that children who are low in regulatory abilities may struggle in academic and social contexts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindfulness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}