Clinical articleOriginal researchQualitative Evaluation of a High School Yoga Program: Feasibility and Perceived Benefits
Introduction
Yoga is a comprehensive mind−body practice that involves physical postures and movement, breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation to develop self-observation without judgment while the body moves and breathes, with the ultimate goal of unifying the self at physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and social levels.1, 2, 3 During the past decade, yoga has become extremely popular among Americans, including American youth. In 2007, 2.1% of children younger than 18 practiced yoga.4 Although many adults seek yoga to improve psychological well-being and manage stress,5 there is little information presently available examining why youth may practice. Most of the emerging scientific evidence for yoga as a therapeutic intervention is based on samples of adults rather than children. Basic research on adults practicing yoga and its component techniques has indicated effectiveness in reducing stress and arousal.6, 7, 8 Yoga may be most effective in treating disorders that have a strong psychosomatic, psychological/psychiatric, or stress-related component9, 10, 11; for example, outcomes studies in adults have shown benefit of yoga for stress,12, 13 depression,14, 15 anxiety,15, 16, 17, 18 and insomnia.19, 20, 21 Although much less research has been published on yoga for youth, emerging outcomes are similar to adults. For example, three recent systematic reviews indicate that mental health improvements in healthy children and adolescents included improved mood (particularly anxiety and negative emotional states) and reductions in stress.22, 23, 24 Previous work with our program in 11th-and 12th-grade high school students randomly assigned to either a yoga program for 12 weeks during Physical Education (PE) or PE-as-usual showed significant pre/postimprovements in resilience to stress, negative affect, anxiety, and anger control relative to controls.25
The practice of yoga is a complex holistic intervention in which each student can find his/her unique trajectory of change and improvement. Yoga practitioners frequently report nonspecific positive effects, those being changes in addition to or different from what drew them to begin a practice.26 Qualitative research, which collects data on the lived experiences of participants, is the perfect tool for exploring such complex, unique experiences,27 enriching our scientific knowledge beyond what can be gained quantitatively.28 The purpose of the present qualitative analysis is to gain a deeper understanding of individual perspectives of students participating in the treatment arm of our yoga trial. Specifically, we collected student perspectives about: (1) the practice of yoga within the school curriculum, (2) perceived benefits of yoga, (3) participating in a research study. Results will guide further development of the yoga program under study, provide new or more specific hypotheses about quantitative outcomes, and improve study administration.
Section snippets
Parent Study
In this randomized, controlled trial we examined the effects of the Institute for Extraordinary Living, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health “Yoga in the Schools” program offered in place of a semester of PE classes at a rural public high school in Western Massachusetts. Recruitment consisted of sending study information home to parents and describing the study verbally to students. We used a passive consent, opt-out procedure; study approval and oversight was performed by the Partners Human
Results
Twenty-eight students from the yoga group participated in the interviews (Table 1). This subset included two noncompleters; one male interviewee dropped out halfway through the yoga program, whereas another interviewed male dropped out after baseline questionnaires. All of the students randomly selected for interviews participated in the interviews.
Twenty-five of the 26 students that completed interviews also completed the program evaluation form. One student had missing data for this form.
Insights on Designing Yoga Programs in this Context and Population
Bringing yoga into a school environment has unique challenges and opportunities. Questions of implementation, such as, “should classes be mandatory” and “at what time of day should the classes be offered,” came up during several of the interviews.
Insights into Research in this Population
Our last set of interview questions queried the students' experience with the study and the measurement techniques used. The qualitative interview data revealed some areas of weakness and strength in our research design and techniques for working with this population.
Discussion
Little is known about the use of yoga by youths. This qualitative analysis explores the experiences of students participating in the treatment arm of a 12-week in school yoga trial. We asked students about: (1) the practice of yoga within the school curriculum, (2) perceived benefits of yoga, and (3) participating in a research study. The students reported individual benefits (such as improved academic and athletic performance), social benefits (such as reduced reactivity to stressful social
Acknowledgments
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health funded this qualitative substudy. The project leader was Lisa Conboy. Study coordination was performed by Jessica Noggle; interviews by Jessica Noggle, Kristen Reinhardt, Elena Monsour, and Dan Litrownik; and interview coding by Jessica Frey and Ravi Kudesia. No other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. Work for the parent project was supported by a gift from Steve Glick and additional funding from the Kripalu
References (37)
- et al.
Alterations of auditory middle latency evoked potentials during yogic consciously regulated breathing and attentive state of mind
Int J Psychophysiol
(1993) - et al.
Effect of integrated yoga on stress and heart rate variability in pregnant women
Int J Gynaecol Obstet
(2009) - et al.
Yoga for depression: the research evidence
J Affect Disord
(2005) - et al.
Anxiolytic effects of a yoga program in early breast cancer patients undergoing conventional treatment: a randomized controlled trial
Complement Ther Med
(2009) - et al.
Complementary and alternative medicine whole systems research: beyond identification of inadequacies of the RCT
Complement Ther Med
(2005) - et al.
Ashtanga yoga for children and adolescents for weight management and psychological well being: an uncontrolled open pilot study
Complement Ther Clin Pract
(2009) The Wisdom of Yoga
(2006)Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy
(2006)Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
(2002)- et al.
Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children: United States, 2007
Natl Health Stat Rep
(2008)