Abstract
Objectives
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in the school context provide a set of practices that may help children to be more aware of their mental and behavioral habits and to learn to develop healthy mind habits. In the last years, there has been an exponential growth of empirical research documenting the benefits of practicing mindfulness in educational contexts. However, most of the studies have used quantitative methodologies, and only a few of them have used qualitative approaches. In addition, up to date, few studies have evaluated the impact of mindfulness-based interventions in school settings for children at risk.
Methods
This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of at-risk children after participated in a MBI in a low-resource school in Santiago de Chile. Eighteen children between 9 to 11 years old were interviewed in a semi-structure format. Following the grounded theory, the data was analyzed using descriptive and axial coding.
Results
The findings showed that the children experienced an integral learning process after the intervention. This involved emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects that are described in the following seven main themes: (1) dissatisfaction state before the intervention and intention to feel better; (2) main learnings and benefits of the mindfulness-based intervention; (3) meaningful core practices and exercises; (4) feasibility and acceptance; (5) transference and application of learnings outside the classroom; (6) benefits of the MBI in the school and family climate; (7) children’s perceptions and feelings about their changes.
Conclusion
An MBI in a low-resource school has the potential to improve children’s self-awareness, attention, self-regulation, and social relationship skills.
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Acknowledgments
A special appreciation is expressed to the children who participated in the study, as well as to their parents, teachers, and all the school community, all of whom made this study possible. Also, a special thanks to all research assistants for their valuable help in the different phases of this project, and to Teodoro Luna-Jarillo for his support in the implementation of the mindfulness-based program.
Funding
This study was funded by the European Varela Award Grant from Mind and Life Europe (Grant # 2016-EVarela-Garcia Rubio) to Catherine Andreu (CIA) and Carlos García-Rubio (CGR). In addition, this study was supported by the Fund for Innovation and Competitiveness (FIC) of the Chilean Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, through the Millennium Scientific Initiative, Grant [IS 130005-MIDAP to CIA] and by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport (FPU13/ 01677) to CGR.
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CIA, CAV, CGR conceived and designed the study. CIA, CAV, CGR performed the data acquisition. CIA, CAV, CGR analyzed the data and/or interpreted the findings. CIA, CAV, CGR wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
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All procedures performed in these studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Andreu, C.I., Araya-Véliz, C. & García-Rubio, C. Benefits of a Mindfulness-based Intervention at School from the Perspective of At-risk Children. Mindfulness 12, 1611–1623 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01624-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01624-6