12. Intervention of mindfulness training in physical education teaching on anxiety emotions of vocational college students
Schizophrenia Bulletin February 13, 2026 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbag003.012 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 100 |
| Population | Higher vocational college students |
| Intervention | Mindfulness training integrated into physical education teaching |
| Dose | about 30 minutes per course |
| Duration | 12-week intervention |
| Measures | Self-Assessment Anxiety Scale (SAS), Notation Awareness Scale (MAAS) |
| Topics | Anxiety Meditation |
| Key findings | Integrating about 30 minutes of structured mindfulness training into a 12-week physical education course significantly reduced anxiety in vocational college students, with the experimental group's average SAS score dropping from 58.4 to 46.3 points, a 12.1-point decrease, significantly lower than baseline and the control group. The authors argue this 'integrating body and mind' approach is convenient and easy to promote, but caution that the sample was relatively homogeneous and long-term effects and mechanisms need further verification. |
Abstract
Abstract Background Vocational college students generally face the dilemma of anxiety, while traditional forms of mental health education are relatively single. Mindfulness training emphasizes conscious and non judgmental awareness of the present, and has been proven to effectively alleviate anxiety. The research aims to explore the innovative approach of integrating mindfulness training into physical education teaching, in order to evaluate its intervention effect and application value in alleviating students' anxiety.
Methods: The study was designed with a randomized controlled trial, and 100 higher vocational students were recruited and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. In the 12-week regular physical education course, the experimental group embedded about 30 minutes of structured mind training in each course, including mind breathing, body scanning and mind integration in exercise; The control group only had conventional physical education. The Self-Assessment Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Notation Awareness Scale (MAAS) were used to assess before and after intervention, and the data were processed by repeated measure analysis of variance and independent sample t-test.
Results: The SAS scores (mean ± standard deviation) and intra - and inter group comparisons between the experimental group and the control group at three time points are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, as the intervention progressed, the anxiety score of the experimental group at T1 time point was significantly lower than the baseline of the same group (p<.001) and the control group during the same period (p<.001). At the end of the intervention (T2), the scores of the experimental group further significantly decreased (compared to T0, p< .001), The average score decreased from 58.4 points to 46.3 points, a decrease of 12.1 points. This fully proves that mindfulness training integrated into physical education teaching can effectively and significantly reduce the anxiety of vocational college students.
Discussion: This study has confirmed that integrating mindfulness training into physical education courses can effectively enhance students' mindfulness abilities and alleviate anxiety. The path of "integrating body and mind" has the advantages of convenient implementation and easy promotion. However, the research sample is relatively single, and the long-term effects and specific mechanisms still need further verification. In the future, relevant research can be deepened in a wider range of groups.