A protocol for a critical realist synthesis of school mindfulness interventions designed to promote pupils' mental wellbeing.
Pamela Abbott, Graeme Nixon, Isabel Stanley, Lucia D'Ambruoso
Frontiers in Public Health 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1309649 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review protocol (critical realist review) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Pupils in schools (children and adolescents) |
| Intervention | school-based mindfulness interventions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Children and adolescents Complexity theory Critical realism Mental wellbeing Pupils Schools |
| Key findings | The protocol proposes that a critical realist review is needed to explain the causal mechanisms and contextual conditions through which school-based mindfulness interventions promote pupils' mental wellbeing, rather than only establishing whether they work. The authors argue that existing impact evaluations suggest benefits but leave the underlying mechanisms and implementation contexts insufficiently understood, and they aim to develop an interdisciplinary middle-range theory to address this gap. |
Abstract
The review described in this protocol will be the first critical realist review of the literature reporting on the impact of school-based mindfulness interventions on the mental wellbeing of pupils. Mindfulness interventions are increasingly being introduced into schools to promote children's (and teachers') wellbeing. Findings from impact evaluations, including systematic reviews and metanalysis, suggest that school-based mindfulness interventions promote pupils' wellbeing. However, there is a need for further evidence on the underlying causal mechanisms and contexts that explain program outcomes, to provide insight into how mindfulness programs can be successfully implemented in other contexts. A critical realist review methodology will be used to provide a causal interdisciplinary understanding of how school-based mindfulness interventions promote the mental wellbeing of pupils. This will be done through a systematic literature review and extrapolating context, agency, intervention, mechanisms, and outcome configurations. This will enable an understanding of how, in certain contexts, pupils can use the resources offered by a mindfulness intervention knowingly or unknowingly to trigger mechanisms that promote their mental wellbeing and what mechanisms in the context support, restrict or prevent change. We will then use retrodiction and retroduction to develop the most plausible interdisciplinary middle-range theory to explain the findings. The review findings will inform a critical realist evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in schools. The findings from the review will also enable us to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about what conditions need to be in place for mindfulness interventions to promote pupils' mental wellbeing. We will publish the findings from the review in academic and professional publications, policy briefs, workshops, conferences, and social media.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023410484.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |
Citations in the library
Cites 9
- What defines mindfulness-based programs? The warp and the weft Psychological Medicine December 29, 2016
- Beyond All Splits: Envisioning the Next Generation of Science on Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools for Students. Mindfulness November 11, 2022
- School Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Youth, and Considerations for Anxiety, Depression, and a Positive School Climate—A Systematic Literature Review Children May 11, 2023
- Mindfulness-based programmes and 'bigger than self' issues: protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open March 15, 2023
- Universal Mindfulness Training in Schools for Adolescents: a Scoping Review and Conceptual Model of Moderators, Mediators, and Implementation Factors Prevention Science August 1, 2022
and 4 more in the library