Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mental Health Literacy Education on Sleep Disturbance and Suicidal Ideation Among Senior Secondary School Students in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria
Joy Oluwayemisi Adetula
Scholar J July 13, 2026 DOI: 10.67378/sj/181 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 54 |
| Population | Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, who met clinical screening thresholds for both sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation |
| Interventions | Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Mental Health Literacy Education (MHLE) |
| Duration | 12 weeks of structured weekly group sessions |
| Measures | Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The study was designed to test whether Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mental Health Literacy Education reduce sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation in Nigerian secondary school students, compared with a waitlist control. No outcome results are reported in the available text, so whether either intervention was effective remains unknown. |
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mental Health Literacy Education (MHLE) on sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation among senior secondary school students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. Sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation are increasingly recognised as causally linked through shared pathways of rumination and cognitive hyperarousal, yet evidence-based intervention research addressing both outcomes concurrently in low- and middle-income country school settings remains critically limited. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design was employed. A purposive sample of 54 Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students (27 males, 27 females) meeting clinical screening thresholds for both conditions was drawn from three public secondary schools across the AMAC, Bwari, and Gwagwalada Area Councils of the FCT. Participants were randomly assigned to MBCT (n = 18), MHLE (n = 18), or a waitlist control condition (n = 18). Both interventions were delivered over 12 weeks in structured weekly group sessions. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) served as validated outcome measures...
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |