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A Randomized Trial Evaluating School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Ethnic Minority Youth: Exploring Mediators and Moderators of Intervention Effects.

Journal of abnormal child psychology
January 1, 2019
Joey Fung et al. (6 authors)
Journal ArticleRandomized Controlled TrialResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tHuman StudyClinical
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a school-based mindfulness intervention on mental health and emotion regulation outcomes among adolescents with elevated mood symptoms.

Results Summary

The mindfulness intervention showed significant treatment effects for internalizing symptoms and perceived stress, with varying effect sizes for different outcomes. Mediation analyses indicated that improvements in emotion regulation (e.g., reduced expressive suppression and rumination) contributed to these effects.

Population

Predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th-grade students with elevated mood symptoms.

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

12 weeks

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (22)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
internalizing symptoms
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
-
significant treatment effects
#1
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
perceived stress
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
-
significant treatment effects
#2
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
attention problems
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
small
small effect size
#3
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
internalizing problems
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#4
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
externalizing problems
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#5
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
perceived stress
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
large
large effect size
#6
school-based mindfulness intervention
increase
cognitive reappraisal
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
small
small effect size
#7
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
expressive suppression
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#8
school-based mindfulness intervention
increase
emotional processing
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#9
school-based mindfulness intervention
increase
emotional expression
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#10
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
rumination
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
medium
medium effect size
#11
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
avoidance fusion
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
large
large effect size
#12
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
internalizing symptoms
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
-
mediated by reductions
#13
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
perceived stress
predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms
-
mediated by reductions
#14
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
internalizing problems
youth with more severe problems at baseline
-
larger treatment effects
#15
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
externalizing problems
youth with more severe problems at baseline
-
larger treatment effects
#16
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
perceived stress
youth with more severe problems at baseline
-
larger treatment effects
#17
school-based mindfulness intervention
decrease
attention problems
students with lower severity at baseline
-
larger treatment gains
#18
mindfulness intervention
decrease
perceived stress
low-income ethnic minority youth
-
beneficial
#19
mindfulness intervention
decrease
internalizing problems
low-income ethnic minority youth
-
beneficial
#20
mindfulness intervention
increase
emotion regulation outcomes
low-income ethnic minority youth
-
improving
#21
mindfulness training
decrease
mental health symptoms
-
-
associated with reduced
#22
Abstract

The study examined the efficacy of a school-based mindfulness intervention on mental health and emotion regulation outcomes among adolescents in a wait-list controlled trial. The study also explored mediators and moderators of intervention effects. A total of 145 predominantly ethnic minority (Asian and Latino) 9th grade students with elevated mood symptoms were randomized to receive a 12-week mindfulness intervention at the start of the academic year, or in the second semester of the year. Students completed measures of emotion regulation and mental health symptoms at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed significant treatment effects of the mindfulness intervention for internalizing symptoms and perceived stress at post-treatment. Pooled pre-to-post treatment analyses of the entire sample revealed a small effect size for attention problems, medium for internalizing and externalizing problems, and large for perceived stress. We also found a small effect size for cognitive reappraisal, medium for expressive suppression, emotional processing, emotional expression, and rumination and large for avoidance fusion. Mediation analyses showed that treatment effects on internalizing symptoms and perceived stress were mediated by reductions in expressive suppression and rumination. Moderation analyses revealed that treatment effects were larger among youth with more severe problems at baseline for internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and perceived stress. However, for attention problems, students with lower severity at baseline appeared to have larger treatment gains. The study provided evidence that mindfulness intervention was beneficial for low-income ethnic minority youth in reducing perceived stress and internalizing problems, and improving emotion regulation outcomes. Furthermore, mindfulness training was associated with reduced mental health symptoms via improvements in emotion regulation.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdolescentAsianBehavioral SymptomsEmotional RegulationFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHispanic or LatinoHumansMaleMindfulnessMinority GroupsOutcome Assessment, Health CareSchool Health Services
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality80/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations51
Citations/Year8.5
Relative Citation Ratio4.93
NIH Percentile92.9%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score2.43
Normalized Score0.70
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