Mindfulness classes in schools do not improve children’s mental health

Mindfulness training does not improve mental health for school childrenexperts concluded after a study found that most students find the practice too boring.

Although the scheme helped some teachers avoid burnout and also improved school culture, most students did not benefit directly. For some, it made their mental health worse.

Professor Mark Williams, founding director of the Oxford Center for Mindfulness and co-researcher, said that students on average practice attention only once in a 10-week course.

“It’s like going to the gym one time and hoping you get in shape,” he said. “Why didn’t they practice? Many of them found it boring… Those students who participated improved.”

Mindfulness meditation encourages people to pay attention to their thoughts and feelings without judgment and has been used successfully in adults for mental health managementtherefore, the researchers wanted to find out whether it can also help in the earlier years of life.

The eight-year study included more than 28,000 children aged 11 to 14, as well as 650 teachers from 100 schools across the UK.

At the start of the research, the team found that one in three students suffered from mental or emotional problems, which was more than previous figures.

‘Children are not interested enough’

Mindfulness courses were carried out on half of the students over 10 weeks, with a total of 30 to 50 lessons, and experts noted changes in well-being, depression, social and emotional behaviour.

However, the team realized that it doesn’t get any better than that schools are already working for mental healthand researchers discovered that eight out of 10 children were not interested enough to practice mindfulness at home.

Willem Kuyken, professor of mindfulness and psychological sciences at the University of Oxford and one of the study’s lead authors, told a briefing that older children appeared to benefit more than younger ones, but those with existing mental health problems showed no improvement.

He added: “It looks like it could got a little worse. Our hypothesis was that our mindfulness training improved children’s mental health. It didn’t.

“Some people liked it, but a slightly bigger group didn’t like it, and a lot of kids didn’t practice at all. The kids who didn’t like it and didn’t practice didn’t do so well.”

Teachers are reaping the benefits of mindfulness

Although mindfulness was found to improve school culture, make teachers more approachable, and foster mutual respect, the effects faded after one year.

And while the teachers felt less burned out as a result of practicing mindfulness, the benefit also disappeared after one year.

The team concluded that mindfulness training they should not be widespread to schools in Great Britain.

Tamsin Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and co-researcher, said: “Our work adds to the evidence that bringing mental health treatment into classroom curricula is difficult and that teachers may not be the best at it. without significant training and support.

“Another approach would be for mindfulness practitioners to work with students who are at risk for poor mental health or who express a particular interest in attending mindfulness training.”

The research was published in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health.