Impact of a Mindfulness-based Intervention on Well-being and Mental Health of Elementary School Children

Impact of a Mindfulness-based Intervention on Well-being and Mental Health of Elementary School Children: Results From a Randomized Cluster Trial

Background: Prevention programs for children such as mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are often implemented in schools to prevent psychological disorders from emerging and contribute to children' mental health.

Aim: This study used a randomized cluster design and assessed the impact of a MBI on well-being and mental health of elementary school children's.

Method: 13 elementary school classrooms were randomly allocated to the experimental condition (7 classrooms, n = 127 students) or the waitlist control condition (6 classrooms, n = 104 students). Participants in the experimental condition received a 10-week MBI.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health Wellness 1; Mindfulness-based Intervention; Elementary School Children
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 231
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Quebec
    • Saint-Lambert, Quebec, Canada, J4S 1M8
      • École primaire Préville

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Attending the Préville Elementary School
• Spoke sufficient French to fill out questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not attending the Préville Elementary School
• Level of French was not good enough to fill out questionnaires

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mindfulness-based condition; Classes assigned to this condition received the mindfulness-based intervention. The MBI program implemented comprised ten weekly sessions. Activities were drawn from the Mission Méditation program, a MBI intervention specifically tailored for elementary school children. Activities comprised in this intervention encompassed formal (e.g., body scan, sitting, and breathing meditation) and informal meditations (e.g., mindful eating, listening, and touching, mindful walking), as well as positive psychology exercises (e.g., taking care of oneself, gratitude). The weekly sessions, lasting 45 to 60 minutes each, were delivered in a group format by the teachers themselves, in their classroom.	Behavioral: Mindfulness-based intervention; The MBI program implemented comprised ten weekly sessions. Please refer to the arm/group descriptions for further details.
No Intervention: Wait-list control; Placed on waitlist and then offered the intervention once the data collection phase was over.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Symptoms of Mental Health Disorders	Children completed selected items from the self-report version of the anxiety (three items, e.g., "I worry about little things"), depression (five items, e.g., "Nothing ever goes right for me") and inattention (4 items, e.g., " I forget to do things") subscales of the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children (BASC II)	Baseline, post-intervention (10 weeks)
Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction	Participants rated how competent, autonomous, and related they felt in school, by answering a nine-item scale adapted from a scale used in a previous, similar study [57]. Children were asked to rate their agreement with items such as "In school, I feel free to be myself" (autonomy); "I am able to reach my goals" (competence) and "In my relationship with others, I feel appreciated" (relatedness) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always).	Baseline, post-intervention (10 weeks)
Process Measure	Finally, participants completed the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale for Children (e.g., "I find it hard to stay focused on what's happening in the present moment."; [58]) to evaluate pre-to-post changes in their mindfulness abilities. They rated their agreement with each item on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 6 (almost always). A higher score on this scale indicates lower levels of mindfulness.	Baseline, post-intervention (10 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Bishop's University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 24, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 28, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 3, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 3, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 28, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026_e_2017

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Data will be available upon request with the PI.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No