NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
ERIC Number: EJ1180344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0965-948X
EISSN: N/A
Credibility in Mindfulness Training for Young People
Ennis, Harriet
Psychology Teaching Review, v24 n1 p59-62 2018
Providing the evidence-base to establish whether mindfulness for young people is beneficial is undoubtedly more challenging than it has been for adults. First of all there are the practical difficulties in training teachers to deliver mindfulness well. Yet this is what needs to be done; teachers with the class management and pedagogical expertise are best placed to deliver mindfulness training to students with whom they have built trust. Secondly, it is difficult to measure the outcomes, particularly for teenagers, because unlike the positively predisposed adult participants of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) training, adolescents, particularly if drafted into research at school, are less likely to focus on gaining understanding of the techniques, let alone actually practise them. Thirdly, a Whole-School drive and parental involvement, to promote mindfulness practice, may seem necessary to get students to spend enough time mindfully to see measurable benefits, but may actually have counterproductive effects. Students, parents and even teachers can react badly to such initiatives from leadership, which means any null results from formal studies may not be valid. The upshot of this is that clear evidence may be some time away. In the meantime the low risk of adverse reactions to mindfulness needs to be mitigated through the use of guidelines and training for educators. In search of solutions to the challenges to research validity, randomised controlled trials using teachers (not researchers) who have training and credibility to deliver mindfulness training, will paint a clearer picture of its effectiveness for young people.
British Psychological Society, Division for Teachers & Researchers in Psychology. St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester, LE1 7DR, UK. Tel: +44-1162-529551; Fax: +44-1162-271314; e-mail: directmail@bps.org.uk; Web site: http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/journals/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A