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Mindful parenting-A thematic exploration of narratives from Indian mothers.

Ketoki Mazumdar, Sneha Parekh, Isha Sen

Frontiers in Global Women's Health 2022 DOI: 10.3389/fgwh.2022.975683 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

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Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size 31
Population Urban Indian mothers of children aged 10 years and below
Topics Meditation
Keywords Covid-19 Indian mothers Mindful parenting Qualitative research
Key findings Mothers reported that increased workload, poor support, and lack of time for self contributed to emotional and physical distress during COVID-19, and they described engaging in mindful parenting processes—awareness, acceptance, empathic understanding, active engagement, and emotional regulation—to address these concerns. The authors propose mindfulness-based interventions as possible supports, while calling for structural and policy changes addressing gender inequality and childcare.

Abstract

With the global crisis of COVID-19 continuing, Indian mothers have not received adequate attention with respect to their challenges and mothering experiences. The current study explored mindful parenting practices in a cohort of Indian mothers of children aged 10 years and below that emerged in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19. In-depth virtual interviews were conducted with 31 urban Indian mothers to explore their lived experiences of mothering during the global crisis and their engagements with mindful parenting practices. The data were thematically analyzed. The study identified two overarching themes and nine subthemes. The first theme, pandemic-induced stress, included the sub-themes of increased workload, poor support system, lack of time for self, and emotional and physical distress. The second theme of mindful parenting included the sub-themes of awareness as a mother and around the child, acceptance toward self and the child, empathic understanding of self and the child, active engagement with the child, and emotional regulation. Increased workload on all fronts coupled with poor support and a lack of time for self-contributed to exacerbated emotional and physical stress in mothers. They addressed these concerns posed by their lived experiences by engaging in mindful parenting processes in their mothering practices. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness-based parenting techniques could be explored as possible interventions for mothers to alleviate their distress while drawing attention to larger structural changes and policy-level interventions addressing social issues such as gender inequality and childcare concerns.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... 2017 Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system 2004 Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety 2006 Exploratory mixed methods study n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context 2001 Qualitative study n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators 2013 Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

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