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The effects of yoga on mental health in school-aged children: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Randomised Control Trials.

Clinical child psychology and psychiatry
July 1, 2023
Kirti Khunti et al. (5 authors)
Systematic ReviewJournal ArticleHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to evaluate the evidence base for the effects of yoga (including mindfulness) on children's mental health and assess its potential as a preventative and therapeutic measure in schools.

Results Summary

The review found encouraging evidence for yoga interventions in improving children's mental health, though methodological flaws like small sample sizes and limited intervention details were noted. It suggests yoga may be implemented in schools for mental health benefits.

Population

Children, teenagers, and adolescents in school settings.

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (2)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
yoga
increase
children's mental health
children
-
encouraging evidence
#1
yoga interventions
decrease
mental health issues
school children
-
may be implemented
#2
Abstract

It is becoming increasingly common for frontline clinicians to see children and teenagers struggle with their mental health. Since mental health issues have increased over the past ten years in the UK, they are now the leading cause of disability and cost the British economy £105 billion annually. The review discusses the evidence base underpinning the effect of yoga on children's mental health and summarises the results of 21 research papers. The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, PubMed, Medline and Cochrane Library were searched through Ovid from January 2008 until May 2022. The keywords 'yoga OR mindfulness - AND school AND children OR child OR youth OR adolescent' were used. The search was limited to studies in the English language. The quality of each study was rated against Version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised control trials and a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The evidence for yoga therapies in children is encouraging, although studies include methodological flaws such as small sample sizes and sparse information on interventions. This review has highlighted that yoga interventions may be implemented in schools as a preventative and therapeutic measure for mental health issues.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdolescentChildHumansYogaMental HealthNarrationChild HealthRandomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy75/10
Quality68/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations7
Citations/Year3.5
Relative Citation Ratio4.02
NIH Percentile90.2%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score2.49
Normalized Score0.64
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