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Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of children practicing mindfulness, defined as cultivating an open-minded awareness of the present moment. Children receiving mindfulness training at school exhibit enhancements in attention, behavior, and overall mental well-being.
As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, leading to the closure of schools and remote learning for millions of students, MIT researchers explored the potential benefits of remote, app-based mindfulness practices. Their study conducted in 2020 and 2021 revealed that children using a mindfulness app at home for 40 days experienced improvements in various aspects of mental health, including reduced stress and diminished negative emotions like loneliness and fear. These findings indicate that remote, app-based mindfulness interventions, with the potential to reach a wider audience compared to school-based methods, may offer significant mental health benefits.
John Gabrieli, the Grover Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT, and the senior author of the study, emphasizes the mounting scientific evidence supporting the positive impact of mindfulness on mental well-being in diverse populations.
Researchers in Gabrieli’s lab also recently reported that children exhibiting higher levels of mindfulness displayed greater emotional resilience in the face of the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. This suggests that mindfulness can aid individuals in their response to external challenges.
The subsequent study investigated whether a remote, app-based intervention could effectively enhance mindfulness and mental health. The researchers worked with the same group of children from their previous study, dividing them into three groups. One group received mindfulness training through an app provided by Inner Explorer, a nonprofit organization specializing in meditation programs. They engaged in mindfulness exercises five days a week. The other two groups used an app for audiobooks, with one group simply using the app at their own pace, and the other having weekly virtual meetings with a facilitator.
The results showed improvements in mental health across all three groups over the eight-week study period. Additionally, all groups exhibited increased levels of mindfulness and prosocial behavior. However, the mindfulness group demonstrated some unique advantages, including a more significant reduction in stress. Parents of children in the mindfulness group reported greater decreases in negative emotions like anger and sadness. Notably, those who practiced mindfulness exercises most frequently experienced the greatest benefits.
Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in measures of anxiety and depression between the mindfulness group and the audiobook groups. This may be attributed to the beneficial effects on mental health experienced by students who interacted with a facilitator in one of the audiobook groups.
Overall, the findings underscore the value of remote, app-based mindfulness training, particularly when practiced consistently and with parental encouragement. Apps also offer the advantage of reaching a larger number of children compared to school-based programs, which demand more resources and training.
