Does mindfulness in schools actually work?

A new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has found that evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness is weak. The study found that any positive side effects for students, teachers and the ‘school climate’ were short-lived.

A sign to pivot toward a new approach?

While mindfulness is being trialed in many schools across the UK, a series of five studies recently published in Evidence Based Mental Health has brought its effectiveness into question, EurekaAlert reports. Behind the publication, was the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRAID) trial, which has involved thousands of teens and hundreds of teachers from across the UK.

85 secondary schools with nearly 700 teachers and almost 8,500 11-16-year-olds who were taking part in something called ‘social-emotional learning’ were involved in the studies. Currently, social emotional learning (SEL) is taught in secondary schools and aims to develop self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that young teens need for school and then for life beyond school.

Typically, SEL has been practiced through mindfulness training in recent times, with teachers learning mindfulness themselves first and then do training to deliver the teaching over 10 lessons of 30-50 mins.

The basic tenants of mindfulness training are:

• attention control: learning how to pay attention
• emotional and social regulation: learning how to understand and manage feelings and behaviour.

Both stages of the mindfulness training have the aim of boosting teens’ resilience so that they are more able to cope with stressors and are therefore more mentally healthy.

However, the study found that both teachers and pupils did not show any long-lasting benefit from mindfulness.

In one of the studies that made up the bigger whole, researchers found that schools and teachers who were randomly assigned to include mindfulness training in their SEL showed initial signs of better mental health, reduced burnout and a better school climate, but after only a year the positive effects had all but disappeared.

In another study, researchers wanted to look at the possible benefits of mindfulness for 11-16-year-olds throughout the pandemic. 235 pupils who underwent mindfulness training before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic were monitored during the pandemic next to 225 pupils who took part in a matched study skills curriculum.

The pupils who took part in the mindfulness training showed no signs that it had been any more effective in protecting their mental health than those who had been doing the study skills training.

A further comparative study also added to the evidence suggesting that mindfulness might not be applicable to all people or contexts, it found that mindfulness could be more beneficial to older children and those who are already mentally well. It indicated that mindfulness might not be suitable for younger children and those who are showing signs of an existing/emerging mental health problem. This, researchers said has prompted them to question the universal application of mindfulness as an intervention, as was previously thought.

“…we seriously have to consider that it simply does not work.”

Professor Pim Cuijpers of the Vrije University, Amsterdam produced a linked perspective on the studies, and commented on the negative outcomes of the studies:

“That is not a positive conclusion, but it does point out that we may have to consider other options.”

Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the Child and Adolescent Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and who also co-owns Evidence Based Mental Health also commented on the findings:

“Mindfulness can be helpful in managing emotions, but it won’t be enough for those children and young people who need support with their mental wellbeing, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.”

She continued, “They will need a full range of services to meet their mental health needs, and getting help early is absolutely key in preventing mental health problems from developing or escalating in adulthood.”

“That’s why it’s vital that schools appoint mental health leads who are given enough time and training to deliver on the whole school approach and to have mental health support teams in place, so that children and young people can get help before they reach crisis. A small number will also need properly staffed specialist mental health services to provide clinical care and to work with other services in the communities where they live.”

These findings indicate that a change of direction might be needed, and needed soon for those schools currently implementing mindfulness. Adolescence is the time where many first experience mental health issues, and with the looming crisis of the post pandemic mental health surge, it’s more important than ever that teens are getting the help they need.