Skip to main content
Top
Gepubliceerd in:

Open Access 29-07-2024 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Mindfulness as an Intervention for Self-Regulation and School Reintegration in a Trauma-Informed Primary School Post COVID-19 Lockdown

Auteur: Katrina Diamond

Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness | Uitgave 8/2024

share
DELEN

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

  • Optie A:
    Klik op de rechtermuisknop op de link en selecteer de optie “linkadres kopiëren”
  • Optie B:
    Deel de link per e-mail
insite
ZOEKEN

Abstract

Objectives

The unprecedented global pandemic and enforced isolation have increased emotional, cognitive, and social dysregulation in children, exacerbated by an educational environment dominated by a recovery agenda focusing on academic outcomes and regular testing, which continues. The use of a creative, agentic mindfulness activity was employed to support school reintegration, self-regulation, positive relationships, and a reduction in exclusions.

Method

A case study of a Year 4 group of children over a 6-month period in a trauma-informed primary school explored a mindfulness and guided visualisation intervention in the form of a book entitled “My Magical Garden”. Semi-structured interviews with the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing and the classroom teacher, along with a participative Zoom session with the children, and their poems and stories, were conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis via a constructivist epistemology and experiential orientation to data interpretation.

Results

The intervention led to reductions in children’s stress and anxiety levels and decreases in emotional and cognitive dysregulation. The intervention also resulted in an increase in positive relationships and school reintegration, and increased attention on cognitive tasks. The class also experienced zero exclusions over this period.

Conclusions

Mindfulness meditation and guided visualisation techniques that are creative, and intrinsically motivated, support cognitive and emotional regulation and support social and school success. In view of the ongoing impact of the pandemic and lack of support for social and emotional wellbeing, particularly for children facing adversity, mindfulness meditation programmes in schools should be available to all children.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.
Opmerkingen

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the current generation of children and young people and their families facing significant financial, social, and emotional pressures, adversely affecting overall mental health and wellbeing (Alradhi et al., 2022; The Children’s Society, 2024). The Children’s Society (2024) also states that one in six children who are aged 5–16 years is likely to suffer with mental health, with boys aged 6–10 years almost twice as likely to suffer than girls (NHS Digital, 2020). Enforced isolation and a lack of outdoor activity and connection with nature have led to increases in rumination activities and reductions in executive functioning skills such as self-regulation, which are key to academic success (Coughlan et al., 2022; Ribeiro et al., 2021). A lack of face-to-face interaction with relatives and peers has left children more dependent on their parents and reluctant to return to school (Maynard et al., 2023; Singh et al., 2020). Unfortunately, the lockdown environment has also seen a rise in cases of neglect and abuse in the home resulting in an increase in the number of children experiencing trauma and persistent negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, and loneliness (Bryant et al., 2020; Chaabane et al., 2021; Hen et al., 2022; Loades et al., 2020). These negative emotions can result in impaired interoception and post-traumatic stress, which inhibit key executive functioning skills such as cognitive and emotional regulation and homeostasis that are key pre-requisites for social and educational competence (Maynard et al., 2023; Moyes et al., 2022; Schmitz et al., 2023).
The post-COVID-19 education environment places increased emphasis on the key executive functioning skills of emotional and cognitive regulation through a curriculum recovery agenda that prioritises success in the subjects of English, Maths, and Science and leaves dysregulated children at an even greater disadvantage (Hen et al., 2022; Sims, 2017).
For these children, feelings of frustration and inadequacy present as negative behaviours and “acting out” in the classroom, as a means of masking their true feelings and protecting themselves from failure (Montacute et al., 2022; Sims, 2017). These behaviours present teachers with additional challenges in achieving specified academic outcomes and jeopardise teacher-student relationships (De La Riva & Ryan, 2015; Gentrup et al., 2020). Increasingly, the school environment requires trauma-informed approaches to address the complex needs of those children who are unable to self-regulate (Andreu et al., 2021; Southall, 2024). These approaches focus on creating close, co-regulated teacher–child relationships that support positive academic outcomes and mental health, particularly for those children dealing with increased adversity (Bayly & Bierman, 2022; Liew et al., 2019; Lindo et al., 2014).
Unfortunately, the curriculum recovery agenda has also negatively impacted teachers, with increases in workload and accountability, and the need for didactic teaching techniques due to a focus on targets, outcomes, and test results, placing further stress on the student–teacher relationship (Cadima et al., 2016; Jennings, 2015). These factors alongside a reduction in the priority and funding for pastoral support for children in need, have caused teachers to question their values, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction, and threaten teacher retention (Clarke, 2023; Spears & Green, 2022). In contrast, in classrooms where teaching is child-centred, using activities that are creative and autonomous, students experience themselves as empowered agentic actors in their own education, in an environment where positive child-teacher relationships can flourish and academic success realised (Craft et al., 2014; Tarrasch et al., 2020). Children who experience this agency also develop their ability to focus their attention, thereby completing more complex tasks, which enhances self-regulation, self-efficacy, and successful outcomes (Alsaleh et al., 2023). As a result, head teachers, pastoral leads, and teachers are turning to creative and sustainable school interventions, such as mindfulness, that empower and promote the children’s cognitive and socio-emotional competencies that serve to protect against the risk factors of society and an instrumental curriculum (Alzahrani et al., 2019; Dai et al., 2022; Miu et al., 2022; Roberts-Holmes & Moss, 2021).
Mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) have seen increasing use in educational settings over the past two decades (Hyland, 2016; Phan et al., 2022; Vickery & Dorjee, 2016). A concept stemming from ancient Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness seeks to promote emotional balance and cultivate compassion (Goodman & Greenland, 2009) and is a dynamic process involving the intentional focus of the mind’s attention on thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions, via a “moment to moment, non-judgmental awareness cultivated by paying attention” (Kabat-Zinn, 2015, p. 1481). Mindfulness is effective when cultivated through daily practice, accumulating in an increased form of resilience known as trait or dispositional mindfulness, which facilitates a more mindful and successful approach to dealing with life’s stressors and improvements in mental and emotional health functioning (Kabat-Zinn, 2020; Stevenson et al., 2019). Studies also document the use of mindfulness in reducing symptoms of physical pain and chronic illness in children, via the mind–body connection (Hughes et al., 2023; Shao et al., 2023; Weekes, 2019). A growing number of MBSIs also demonstrate the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in promoting self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and resilience, necessary for social and academic competence, particularly with disadvantaged children who often demonstrate low levels of executive control and emotional stability (Andreu et al., 2021; Pickerell et al., 2023).
Furthermore, in response to children’s confinement throughout lockdown, techniques that feature nature-based visualisation for young children inexperienced in mindfulness have shown to be particularly effective in supporting and empowering children suffering from anxiety when returning to externally controlled school environments (Coughlan et al., 2022; Nguyen & Brymer, 2018). The trauma experienced by many children through COVID-19, and its repercussions, has impacted on the way their brains develop, ensuring that negative emotions are prioritised and more readily available, invoking survival mechanisms in the face of danger, but which in turn restrict mental states that are conducive to higher learning and development (Duros & Crowley, 2014; Steffen et al., 2022). In contrast, creative and internally located guided imagery and nature-based visualisations evoke positive emotions such as joy, happiness, empathy, and safety (Farb et al., 2012). This emotional freedom affords children the opportunity to be curious and think beyond immediate danger and survival, towards new and expansive thoughts that can engage the pre-frontal cortex and promote the pro-social skills that are instrumental in the development of friendships and academic success (Coughlan et al., 2022; Stifter et al., 2020). For children dealing with trauma or exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Finlay et al., 2022), guided visualisation techniques that also involve the use of metaphors for feelings are particularly valuable in enabling young children to revisit painful and traumatic events via a reframing mechanism that allows them to revisit painful emotions in a safe and detached way and further supports the regulation of their emotional responses (Haen, 2020; Raffone & Srinivasan, 2017; Zack et al., 2014).
In terms of mitigating the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, interventions that can reduce the levels of stress that children are experiencing will be instrumental in addressing psychosocial and behavioural issues (Galinha et al., 2024; Singh et al., 2020). Children living in adversity and experiencing trauma often reside in a continual state of heightened awareness known as the stress response (Nelson et al., 2020). This state results in children experiencing “toxic stress”—a persistent release of harmful stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine, which increases risk of allostatic load—an indicator of multisystemic dysregulation (Finlay et al.,; 2022; Gamaiunova, et al., 2022). A resulting toxicity impairs cognitive development ongoing, affecting the essential mechanisms of neural plasticity and synaptogenesis that are key to the developing brain and success in the learning environment (Scientific Council, 2014). An important mediator and regulator of this stress response is the vagus nerve (VN) (Gerritsen & Band, 2018; Porges, 2011). Mindfulness and visualisation techniques can stimulate the vagus nerve into releasing the hormone oxytocin, which switches off the stress response and allows the pre-frontal cortex to re-engage and return to homeostasis (Gamer & Buchel, 2012; Lau et al.,; 2023; Vanderhasselt & Ottaviani, 2022). Children with higher vagal tone demonstrate stronger self-regulatory skills and experience an increase in the cognitive emotions of empathy and compassion, leading to pro-social behaviours for positive relationships, conflict resolution, and academic outcomes (Sarimo, 2023).
With regard to self-regulatory skills, the measurable effects of mindfulness interventions on neural structures and systems are also well documented (Creswell, 2017; Ngan & Cheng, 2022). Research demonstrates that as little as 1.5 hr of mindfulness practice promotes neuroplasticity and positive structural changes in the brain (Kral et al., 2019). More recently, research into the neuro-mechanisms of mindfulness and guided visualisation practices posit a theory of an adaptive brain with interconnected functionality (Steffen et al., 2022). This involves the use of interconnected networks or “neural circuits” in maintaining allostasis of the body’s internal state, linking cognitive and emotional processing in the promotion of resilience, a key factor in self-regulation and focused attention, and which can lead to an increased ability to learn from past experiences, resulting in positive reappraisal and self-efficacy (Garland et al., 2009; Raffone & Srinivasan, 2017; Yao & Hsieh, 2019). Therefore, with consistent commitment to mindfulness practice, children who have experienced trauma can change the way their brains respond to adverse experiences improving their resilience and decision-making capability and the development of social and emotional skills that are crucial to positive relationships and academic outcomes (Black & Allen, 2018; Deng et al., 2019; Dominguez et al., 2022).
However, despite the positivity surrounding mindfulness practices, and by way of caution, the sheer number of MBSIs has called into question the reliability and validity of study design and outcomes. A systematic review of 77 MBSIs across five continents examined the quality of research design and resulting quality of outcomes for selected youth populations (Phan et al., 2022). The review findings were positive around the quality of research design and outcomes in the promotion of prosocial behaviours, resilience, executive function and attention, and reductions in anxiety, attention problems, and conduct behaviours, but importantly highlighted the need for strengthened design in the areas of physiological and psychological stress—areas pertinent to the current climate around mental health (Almeida et al., 2022; Phan et al., 2022). In addition, there are concerns over the ideological motivations and commodification of MBSIs (Purser, 2019). McCaw (2020) explored concepts of “thick” and “thin” mindfulness-based interventions, where “thin” emphasises secular practices adapted to education in a bid to reduce exam stress and improve results, replacing traditional “thick” Buddhist ideals of loving, kindness, and compassion, with a self-serving tool for behaviour management, success, and the idealised citizen of neoliberalism, which may not be conducive to inclusive practice (Gilbert, 2023; McCaw, 2020). However, that said, many MBSIs have been shown to positively impact negative concepts of self, self-acceptance, and self-compassion, often held by children living in increased adversity, and “thin” or not, this may serve in levelling the playing field for many children living in adversity, supporting ideas of equity and social justice (Desbordes, 2019; Hemming & Hailwood, 2024; Perkins et al., 2022; Stenhaug & Solem, 2023). Suffice to say, there is a growing body of scientific research which evidences the positive impact of contemplative activities such as mindfulness meditation and guided visualisation on cognitive and emotional regulation and social competence, which would support school reintegration and success in the post-lockdown era.
The study, therefore, explored the impact of a mindfulness and guided visualisation intervention on the self-regulation and school reintegration of a class of 34, year 4 pupils, aged between 8 and 9 years, in a primary school in Essex, returning from lockdown. Due to the surrounding demographic and socio-economic status of the children in attendance and the consequent risk factors, the school had become trauma-informed (Sunderland, 2019). Trauma-informed schools have a remit of tackling the prevalent levels of mental health issues that children are facing, via the Government green paper, “Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision” (Department of Health and Social Care & Department for Education, 2017). This sets out the aim of placing trained mental health leads in every school, as a valuable, cost-effective resource for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children. However, the school was struggling with the classroom reintegration and behaviour of children returning from COVID-19 lockdown and school closures. The Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing at the school approached the author of “My Magical Garden” (Gray & Allen, 2013), seeking a holistic intervention which would support the social and emotional learning of a key group of children struggling with increased adversity in returning to school. Key objectives from the school’s perspective were to what extent can the intervention (1) provide the children and teachers with strategies for dealing with their emotions and difficult situations; (2) enable the children to work as a team and play together without it resulting in a “big fall out”; (3) improve classroom relationships and teacher-learner relationships and reduce the number of behavioural incidents and exclusions; and (4) increase the children’s productivity in sessions after lunch.

Method

Participants

A Key Stage 1, Year 4 class of 34 children between 8 and 9 years, with 17 boys and 17 girls and 20% receiving free school meals, was chosen for the trial. The researcher did not have access to the children’s individual data to calculate mean age or standard deviation during the study, which was conducted online during and post the pandemic lockdown. The school is in an area of deprivation and many of the children live in particularly challenging circumstances. The Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing (HPW) and the classroom teacher were also participants in the research and the views of five parents were also gathered. The class included two boys that were particularly disruptive when returning from lockdown and a small group of girls that were quiet and suffered from low levels of anxiety.

Measures

The study took place just after the pandemic lockdown and school closures. All workshops and data collection therefore were delivered and collected online. The facilitator (author of “My Magical Garden”) conducted initial workshops to introduce the methodology to the children and train the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing (HPW) and the classroom teacher on how to deliver the workshops themselves in order to work with the children ongoing. The facilitator delivered online workshops, to groups of five children at a time, with the HPW and the classroom teacher present each time, as it was deemed that this would be a suitable number that allowed all children to engage and maintain focus throughout the session, which would take approximately 1 hr. The facilitator also delivered the methodology to five parents that came forward to participate so that they could use the method at home with their children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing at the mid-point (3 months) and at the end of the trial (6 months) around the impacts of the intervention, reporting on child behaviour and the impact on class and child-teacher relationships. The author received self-report from the classroom teacher via a semi-structured interview at the end of the trial. At the end of the trial, the facilitator and researcher received child self-report answers from a 1-hr, focus group discussion via Zoom (https://​zoom.​us/​), a secure video-chat platform, in and around their use of the intervention. The facilitator was not involved in programme implementation or data analysis, reducing opportunities for bias (e.g. leading questions). Focus group data were audio-recorded and independently transcribed, coded, analysed, and interpreted by the research author.

Procedure

The study adopted an epistemologically constructivist approach where meaning and experience are “interpreted to be socially produced and reproduced via an interplay of subjective and intersubjective construction” (Byrne, 2022, pp. 1395–1396). The intervention took the form of a book entitled “My Magical Garden” (2013), written and illustrated by Jacqui Gray and Terri Allen which won the most creative children’s book award presented by Creative Child Magazine in 2014. It is intended for use as a mindfulness/guided visualisation intervention for children and young people who are struggling with cognitive and emotional challenges, ranging from anxiety, stress, self-regulation, and a lack of self-esteem or self-confidence. All conversations, meetings, and interviews were conducted online due to the ongoing restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial meeting was with the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing and the classroom teacher to ascertain the purpose and the objectives of the intervention. From the initial meeting, the HPW and the researcher created a series of questions designed to elicit data to achieve the school’s objectives for use in the semi-structured interviews with the HPW and the classroom teacher;
1.
How have you been using the Magical Garden?
 
2.
Have the learners shown any signs of improvements in self-regulation?
 
3.
Are there other signs that the Magical Garden is having a positive effect?
 
4.
Is the Garden having any negatives impacts anywhere and if so, where?
 
5.
Are there any examples of specific learners who have noticeably changed their behaviour?
 
6.
Are there reductions in behavioural incidents and/or exclusions?
 
7.
Are the learners showing any signs of reduced anxiety?
 
8.
Are the learners showing any improvements in self-confidence and/or social competence?
 
9.
Are the children showing increased focus on cognitive tasks?
 
The researcher interviewed the HPW and the classroom teacher via Zoom to gain feedback and ascertain the impact of the Garden over the 6-month trial period. Through conversations, we get to know people, learn about their experiences, feelings, and fears, and aim to discover the meaning of their lived experiences. The semi-structured design of the interviews would determine a degree of direction of those that, whilst flexible, would also ensure that the researcher could gather data pertaining to the research questions and objectives (Ruslin et al., 2022). Initially, the intervention was delivered to the children, teacher, and parents via a series of online workshops which demonstrated the technique and enabled them to replicate it with the children, in the classroom, and at home wherever possible, as it was felt that this would increase the efficacy of the intervention by presenting the home and school environments as consistent (Rowland et al., 2023). Regular use of the Garden was important and its impact cumulative, so the class teacher determined to use the Magical Garden at least three times per week, after the lunch break, over approximately 24 weeks, when much of the classroom disruption occurred because of playground tensions and conflict (Galante et al., 2023; Kabat-Zinn, 2020). The children would often be extremely upset or hyperactive after lunch and it would ordinarily take the class teacher at least 30 min, sometimes more, to settle them, before any focused work could take place. This time was utilised by the teacher to work with the children in their Gardens. The class teacher would ask the children to close their eyes and then guide them through the pages of the book, selecting a variety of characters and objects, ranging from trees, flowers, and mythical creatures to family and friends, that they can select, to take into and create their Garden. Once the children have chosen, the teacher would then prompt them to use their imagination by asking; “what is the magic that happens”, by way of mental imagery, which they would then discuss with the classroom teacher and/or their peers. The choices that the children make function as metaphors for their thoughts and feelings with possible explanations for their choices, and subsequent suggestions for support, detailed at the back of the book via a key (Gray & Allen, 2013; Zack et al., 2014). For example, if the child chooses a dragon to accompany them on their journey into the Garden, this may mean that they are seeking protection and encouragement to overcome their fears, as the dragon represents protection, strength, courage, and mystery (Gray & Allen, 2013). The classroom teacher spent this time with the children in their Gardens and facilitated creative activities of drawing, story writing, and poetry about their experiences. This interactive participatory approach sought to reduce the dearth of research around mindfulness interventions that capture the child’s voice and recognised the valuable and informative contributions children make, when describing those issues that significantly impact them and their lives (Bannirchelvam et al., 2017). The method allowed the children to express themselves via their own imaginative experiences and reinforced the absence of judgement and ideas of right or wrong, resulting in rich conversations, poems, and stories, that provided an insight into the lives and emotions of the children in a non-threatening manner (Bjorbækmo et al., 2022). At the end of the 6-month period, the researcher held a final question and answer focus group with the children, via Zoom, due to the continuing pandemic restrictions. A small questionnaire around the use of the Garden was also issued to the parents, exploring the use of the Garden at home, with five parents responding.

Data Analyses

The use of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2021) suited the epistemological paradigm of constructivism relevant to the study with reference to the relationship and interrelationship between language and experience, where the language becomes both implicit and explicit in the reproduction of both meaning and experience (Byrne, 2022). This “Big Q” qualitative approach also embraces researcher subjectivity as a resource for research, recognising that their position and contribution are necessary, unavoidable, and integral to the process (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2021). Therefore, what is key for the researcher to focus on is the development of themes that seek to answer the research questions, recognising the value of their own knowledge as a resource towards the analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019). The reflective thematic analysis process follows six stages: (1) data familiarisation and writing familiarisation notes; (2) systematic data coding; (3) generating initial themes from coded and collated data; (4) developing and reviewing themes; (5) refining, defining, and naming themes; and (6) writing the report.
These stages suggest a purely linear process, but integral to the method is the continual back and forth, questioning and requestioning of the data, and revisiting the relationships, significance, and meanings of the codes in an open and organic way, before finalising the key themes for the write up that will tell the story of the data, in an empathic, iterative, and reflexive manner (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2021; Tarrasch et al., 2020). Interviews with the HPW, the classroom teacher, and the focus group Zoom with the children themselves were listened to twice and transcribed. The researcher then read and re-read each interview transcript, actively engaging with the data by considering potential meanings and patterns while making reflective notes (Braun & Clarke, 2019; Trainor & Bundon, 2021). The researcher then proceeded to go back through the data using colours to highlight and label the raw data, creating a visual representation which displayed key connections and similarities between codes. Coding was an inductive process cross a spectrum of meaning from semantic, often from the answers to the interview questions with the HPW and the classroom teacher that were overt to the latent meanings that were implicit, underlying, and hidden in the children’s stories and poems (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Throughout these processes, the researcher was aware that her own positionality as an educator, early-years lecturer, and meditator, along with her own belief in the power of the Garden to help children, might affect her interpretation of the data, and continually acknowledged, checked, and reflected on the subjectivity of her own “taken for granted thinking”, whilst maintaining integrity to the data responses (Ho et al., 2017; p. 1760).
At that point, the researcher developed eight key themes: (1) Increased cognitive, emotional, and physiological control and management, (2) A use of the Garden as a distraction and effective coping strategy, (3) Improvements in social skills, (4) Improvements in relationships, (5) An impact on concepts of self and internal and external stereotyping, (6) The production of positive emotions, (7) The value of an autonomous, agentic, and creative pedagogy on academic outcomes, as an alternative to the COVID-19 educational recovery agenda, and (8) The valuable and restorative connection that children have with nature. However, when trying to write up the findings, the overlap between the “themes” was extensive. On revisiting the data, she felt that these themes were in fact still codes and resembled a practice of early theme development more akin to coding reliability via the thematic analysis practices proffered by Boyatzis (1998). She felt this was not consistent with the purely qualitative paradigm of the study and the level of reflexivity required to ascertain the authentic, empathic meanings behind the data, and the method of reflexive thematic analysis itself (Braun & Clarke, 2021; Canosa et al., 2018). She then undertook to create a table where she aligned the codes from the data with the interview questions and answers, the research objectives, and the responses from the focus group with the children, and then looked to establish patterns and consistencies between those codes to develop key themes that would encompass and reflect the interconnected subjectivity of the data and honour the children’s experiences with their Magical Gardens (Braun & Clarke, 2021).
Four highly connected, dominant themes then emerged (T1 to T4):
1.
Welcome to Vagus!
 
2.
Freedom to learn
 
3.
Building Bridges
 
4.
Blossoming of the Soul
 

Results

Theme 1: Welcome to Vagus!

It was clear that children used the Garden during difficult situations in their lives, when experiencing physical and emotional discomfort or pain. For example, when the children were asked when they used the Garden, one child said, “I hurt my wrist and I want to do it now”. She had been using it since she injured herself and it helped her manage her pain (Shao et al., 2023; Weekes, 2019). When asked when they used the Garden and how it made them feel, children replied specifically: “To help me when I am stressed”, “When I’m angry”, and “Helps me sleep at night”, and used key phrases such as “Helps me calm down”, “relaxed”, “Makes me feel tingly and cosy”, and “Peaceful”. It was also evident from the Zoom session that the children experienced the Garden as a positive, pleasurable experience, facilitating feelings of happiness and often referring to being “Comfortable and happy” and “happy”.
The Garden had the same impact in terms of creating positive emotions and feelings of happiness with the classroom teacher, who stated that:
If I was able to calm them down after lunch, then we could do something else rather than me spending all afternoon out of the classroom investigating the conflicts that occurred. The technique has given us something that we can all enjoy together as a class (togetherness class and group cohesion, unity, inclusion) It was something they enjoyed, I enjoyed as the class teacher, and I feel they were better at talking about their emotions because of it and I always enjoyed doing it with them and hearing what their choices were and listening to their discussions. It was always a really nice thing to do with them.
The children also said they looked forward to using the Garden because they “knew what was coming”, further recognising the impact of the Garden as a coping strategy that would help them to manage their emotions.

Theme 2: Freedom to Learn

The HPW frequently spoke of the pressures of the post-COVID recovery agenda and the pressures that the children were facing as a result. She felt the children and their teachers were under “phenomenal” pressure, stating that “the children are really struggling, as a pastoral team we have never been busier- and I blame the curriculum really”. Some children expressed that they wanted to go back into lockdown due to the relentless testing regime that they were faced with on their return (Bradbury et al., 2021), with the HPW stating that “any opportunity to be creative at the moment is a bonus for the children”.
The HPW and the classroom teacher frequently alluded to the ability of the children to focus and self-regulate, with the classroom teacher perceiving an increase in focus when performing the cognitive tasks in the afternoon commenting “The children are using the Magical Garden technique to help with self-regulation. Just by them using the book they are regulating”, and “they refocus, and it helps them to change their thought process. It provides the children with a chance to use their mind constructively and not destructively and gives them this opportunity in a really enjoyable way”.
The classroom teacher particularly alluded to her surprise when the students that were the disruptive element of the class engaged with the book and the techniques:
One of the boys in particular, embraced it much more that I thought he would have done. He’s quite a tough cookie and he can be quite disengaged, but he fully embraced it and wrote some lovely poetry on it during lockdown. He really took it on board which was surprising.
The HPW, when asked about self-regulation and classroom control during critical incidents involving two key children, stated that very few interventions would be able to work in calming them when they were in a heightened state of crisis but felt that cumulative use would act as a preventative and the use of the Garden afterwards in discussion supported their intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (Agnesiana et al., 2023; Tarrasch & Berger, 2022). She also felt that those learners who were struggling with emotional and cognitive self-regulation less visibly and who suffered from low level anxiety also benefited from the intervention, stating:
it gives them something concrete... we can say all the time breathe in and count to ten but - one child said what’s the point of breathing… that doesn’t engage them, but by just having the book you are regulating them … and as soon as you justify using the garden …you only have to say – go and get your dragon – go to the waterfall…it focuses them and calms them
This highlights the significance of the guided visualisation and creativity of the intervention rather than conventional breath-in-body types of mindfulness meditation which she said the children did not enjoy or stick with it. The class teacher also alluded to the benefits to the quieter members of the class: “It was also a huge benefit to the quieter children who would normally get swamped in the conflicts and get a bit fed up…Losing some of the chaos….” The HPW also spoke of the children’s increased resilience stating “they can certainly focus, and they have built up their stamina again…after covid they would just give up easily”.

Theme 3: Building Bridges

Due to a lack of emotional regulation in many of the children, the teacher–child relationships were problematic, with some negative stereotypes persisting around certain boys in the class (Gentrup et al., 2020), and although the teacher was trained in trauma-informed practice, classroom conflict was a big problem with the group and a lack of cohesion was a key issue that the school was trying to address (Hen et al., 2022; Southall, 2024). The class teacher had first-hand experience of this and struggled with this behavioural element:
As a class they struggle with lunchtime and social situations and lack of structure. They often experienced lunchtime conflicts and when we used the technique everyone would calm down and we could resolve the conflicts but if they came in and you tried to go straight into resolving it (without using the garden) then it would all fall apart. With that in mind it did have a really positive effect on the whole classroom as it calmed them down, the kids would stop yelling across the classroom at each other and then no other further conflicts would happen.
She spoke fondly of the Garden and the class at the end of the trial, indicating the positive relationships and renewed enthusiasm for her teaching (Jennings, 2015), stating “It’s made me more aware of the effect of mindfulness with children and how it can help with their emotional state, so it’s something I’m definitely going to use moving forward”.
The class teacher also spoke of the positive impact of the Garden as a creative activity:
There were big advantages of it as a creative opportunity as not many children of that age and in particular the boys, will use their imagination or be that creative. It was something they enjoyed, I enjoyed as the class teacher, and I feel they were better at talking about their emotions because of it. I always enjoyed doing it with them and hearing what their choices were and listening to their discussions. It was always a really nice thing to do with them.
The opportunity to engage in a creative activity, she felt, not only was rare, but was also an activity that she enjoyed and benefitted from herself, as it aligned with her values as a teacher and enabled her to build positive relationships with children the stating that “After break time sometimes, I’d have to be careful how much they got involved as we had commitments to academic lessons” but that “It helped them to access learning and be more productive”. This may suggest that the children loved the Garden because it meant they did not have to do the activities dictated by the curriculum catch up, but as the teacher states, they would visit their Garden and would then focus on the more instrumental tasks after. The HPW also felt that.
Creativity is a huge benefit of this technique. There’s minimal time for creativity in the curriculum and this technique allows them to use their imagination.
The HPW and classroom teacher also spoke of the benefits of collaborating with the parents with the Garden and the benefits of the children and parents reading the garden together at home: “One of our trickiest children- mums; really on board as she recognises the benefits and with the younger sibling- they are going through a tricky separation at the moment, and it has been a nice tool for them to use as a family”. She was also curious around the ability of the Garden to continue to engage with the parents commenting, “It’s interesting how many are still using it at home”.

Theme 4: Blossoming of the Soul

In line with the difficult circumstances that many children faced in their lives and the impact of COVID and isolation and resulting trauma, the intervention provided a distraction from everyday challenges and an ability to reside in nature in the present moment, with many children stating that they used it to help them deal with the upset and disruption in their lives (Bryant et al., 2020). The children used phrases such as “it takes my mind off it”, “You can forget about the other stuff when you are in the garden”, and “My brother is in hospital- it helps me thing about something else” (child’s spelling error). Another child experiencing particularly difficult circumstances at home stated that he went into the Garden because he felt sad when “Dad went out to get milk and didn’t come back…”.
The children also produced stories and poems around their experiences in the Garden which indicate the value of nature in increasing interoception reinforcing emotional regulation and the physiology of the mind body connection, which in turn can lead to increases in prosocial skills (Donald et al., 2019):
Waterfall
Wow how beautiful
A Clean fresh smell
Tall and magical
Even my belly has butterflies.
Relaxing sound and slight
Falling water, a mythical sound
A breath-taking view.
Light blue in colour
Lingering by the water edge
In line with ideas of “thick” mindfulness (McCaw, 2020), stories from the Garden also demonstrate the desire of children to help others and gratitude for being able to do so:
When I went into the garden I put on a purple cloak because it gave me speed and I could explore quicker. I walked around the fountain. I was surprised to see a dolphin in there. The dolphin said he would like to swim in a larger pool of water. I used my cloak to find the Wizard and ask if he could help the dolphin get to the lake. The Wizard came and gave the dolphin wings so he could fly to the lake. I went to the lake and the dolphin was happy swimming there. I was happy I was able to help the dolphin.

Discussion

The study highlights the benefits of a mindfulness and guided imagery intervention via the book “My Magical Garden” in supporting the psychophysiological wellbeing of the children and aligns with previous studies utilising MBSIs (Flook et al., 2015; Galinha et al., 2024; Rowland et al., 2023; Vickery & Dorjee, 2016).
The study supports previous research that demonstrates the ability of mindfulness practice to support children living with adversity via increases in self-regulation, which was a key factor in successful reintegration to school after the challenges of the pandemic and school closure (Andreu et al., 2021). The study also confirms the children’s enjoyment and preference through their voice and their outputs, for experiential rather than passive intervention programmes (Bannirchelvam et al., 2017). Improved levels of behaviour and the promotion of positive relationships led to a calmer and more harmonious classroom environment (Cozzolino et al., 2022). Theme 1 “Welcome to Vagus!” demonstrates this through the physiological mechanisms at work in mitigating against the damage of toxic stress on the cognitive development of the children, via the vagus nerve. Activation of the vagus nerve was evident in switching off the children’s stress responses and allowing them to reside in a calm physiological state (Gerritsen & Band, 2018; Porges, 2011). Similarly, the role of the intervention in activating vagus nerve mechanisms via the mind–body connection was clear when the children used the Garden in situations involving physical and emotional discomfort or pain (Cozzolino et al., 2022; Shao et al., 2023; Weekes, 2019). The vagus nerve’s role in the production of oxytocin “the love hormone” (Lau et al., 2023) was also evident in enabling the children to experience pleasure and positive emotions—both of which function as protective factors and serve to support the development of resilience and prosocial behaviours (Sarimo, 2023). The children stated that they knew they would have a positive experience whenever they went into the Garden, which perhaps signals the importance of the predictability and reliability of the method as a protective factor to the risk and uncertainty of returning to school, and for some, their home environments post pandemic—perhaps it just provided the children with an opportunity to feel happy (Miu et al., 2022).
Theme 2 “Freedom to Learn” demonstrated the role of the intervention in engaging the pre-frontal cortex and supporting the emotional and cognitive regulation of the children (Agnesiana et al., 2023; Tarrasch & Berger, 2022). The creative nature of the intervention and its ability to activate those biological and neurological processes that support self-efficacy and academic success in the face of an instrumental curriculum post COVID were evident through the children’s, class teacher’s, and HPW responses (Craft et al., 2014; Montacute et al., 2022; Sims, 2017). With regard to the challenging demographic of the children and the need for the school to be trauma-informed, the intervention provided the children with the opportunity, in a safe environment, to challenge and reassess any negative self-concepts arising from their lived experiences, social background, gender, and previous behaviour (Desbordes, 2019; Garland et al., 2009; Miu et al., 2022). It may also support the benefit of cumulative mindfulness techniques in developing trait or dispositional mindfulness which leads to increased resilience (Kabat-Zinn, 2020; Stevenson et al., 2019). The intervention also challenged a toxic masculinity that presented in the behaviour of two of the boys, facilitating their engagement with reading and poetry and protected against the creative constraints of a restrictive instrumental curriculum (Montacute et al., 2022; Stenhaug & Solem, 2023; Wong et al., 2019). The increase in focus when performing the cognitive tasks in the afternoon would suggest the ability of the intervention to support the children’s ability to self-regulate and lead to more successful outcomes academically and socially, through enhanced self-efficacy (De la Riva & Ryan, 2015).
Theme 3 “Building Bridges” emphasised the power of the Garden to enable children to connect with themselves and to re-establish friendships and relational trust that had been lost due to lockdown, isolation and loss, and the lack of opportunity to spend time with friends and loved ones (Maynard et al., 2023; Singh et al., 2020).
From the classroom teacher’s perspective, both she and the children were able to participate in a creative activity that they enjoyed, and which gave them a break from the curriculum recovery agenda (Cadima et al., 2016; Montacute et al., 2022; Sims, 2017). It is also worth noting that when the teacher delivered the intervention a reciprocal calmness and pleasure took place which highlighted the importance and significance of co-regulating with the children in enabling close teacher–child relationships to form (Bayly & Bierman, 2022; Liew et al. 2019; Porges, 2011; Tarrasch & Berger, 2022). The intervention also served to challenge teacher-held stereotypes around boys particularly, in terms of the unexpected engagement and outputs from the sessions in their Gardens, with one boy producing poems, leading to a shift towards more positive appraisal and higher expectations of the children (Gentrup et al., 2020). From the parental perspective, albeit limited, the intervention functioned as a bridge for the social and emotional learning of the children at home and school, supporting key parent–child-teacher-parent relationships, for the benefit of the children (Garro et al., 2023; Feuerborn & Gueldner, 2019).
The final theme “Blossoming of the Soul” highlighted the children’s desire to connect with nature and its impact through the imagination to heal physically and emotionally, via the mind–body connection (Coughlan et al., 2022). It enabled sensory experiences for the children akin to being physically present in nature due to the inability of the body to differentiate between the real and imagined, which facilitated an awakening of their minds and the ability to embrace new experiences (Coughlan et al., 2022; Farb et al., 2012). The intervention also supported the children with the processing of difficult emotions relating to key episodic memories (Küçüktaş & St Jacques, 2022), which may signify the efficacy of the Garden in enhancing emotional and self-referential flexibility and less reactivity around the retrieval of a specific memory that was particularly painful, via a third person, more balanced approach (Dominguez et al., 2022).
An awakening of creativity in the children themselves and an emotional freedom that led to the children seeing themselves as part of a bigger picture, evident from their poems and stories, arguably facilitated a desire to be and live harmoniously with others, possibly representing “thick” purer notions of mindfulness and a pushing back against instrumentalist ideals (Gilbert, 2023; Goodman & Greenland, 2009; McCaw, 2020). The instinctive awareness of the intervention as something that “was good for them” (child’s quote) and would help them was apparent in the children—adopting it readily, recognising it as valuable to them, and quickly taking ownership of it. However, we must consider that at this time there was little opportunity for any creative activities and the children may have wanted to engage with the Garden as a way of avoiding the recovery curriculum lessons.
The poems and stories that the children produced highlight the power of the intervention in activating the children’s imaginative and descriptive abilities, leading to present-moment sensory awareness and mind–body connection, and improved emotional regulation (Farb et al., 2012). The children’s drawings, stories, and poems displayed a present-centred experiential awareness that was detached and safe and promoted positive emotions of joy and happiness, not only towards themselves but towards others (Farb et al., 2012). This demonstrates the role of the intervention in promoting compassion and a simultaneous value to both one’s own and others’ happiness and suggests an alignment with the loving, kindness, and compassionate elements of more “thick” mindfulness practices (Haen, 2020; McCaw, 2020; Quaglia et al., 2021). These positive emotions also provided the children with emotional freedom, and this also correlates with Theme 2 “Freedom to Learn” around the engagement of the pre-frontal cortex due to the lack of pre-occupation with negative thoughts and provided the children with freedom to learn, with reciprocal and interrelated benefits of academic success, self-concept, and self-efficacy (Vanderhasselt & Ottaviani, 2022).
From a neurological perspective, arguably, the consistent practice of the activity, using the Garden at least three times a week and perhaps more at home, may have helped to mitigate any damage caused to the brain due to trauma from lockdown and the adversity that many children faced in their personal circumstances by promoting neuroplasticity and positive structural changes in the brain allowing for improvements in social, emotional, and cognitive functioning (Galinha et al., 2024; Kral et al., 2019; Scientific Council, 2014). Considering the interrelationships and connectedness between the themes, it can be suggested that the Garden promoted the interconnected functionality of the brain (Steffen et al., 2022) which helped the children, and teachers, develop resilience and the important social and emotional skills that are crucial to successful relationships and academic outcomes (Black & Allen, 2018; Deng et al., 2019).
“My Magical Garden” proved to be a successful, cost-effective intervention that non-clinical professionals can teach as a prevention strategy, with minimal resourcing, where the benefits far outweigh the investment. Whilst the study employs a secular, arguably “thin” self-improvement focus, the intervention speaks to Soloway’s (2000) idea of a more ethical practice, where “Mindfulness … is an attempt to momentarily open a transitional space-in-between the subject and experience, a third dimension (p. 32)” with the Magical Garden and the children’s imagination, the third dimension—a capacity to think differently (McCaw, 2020; Solloway, 2000)—whilst promoting resilience, prosocial skills, and harmony within the classroom (Gilbert, 2023). The Garden, or similar techniques around guided imagery involving nature, magic, and a child’s imagination, may protect against those “thin” mindfulness techniques taught in unmindful systems, as they foster resilience and drive self-awareness and compassion for others (Donald et al., 2019; Gilbert, 2023; McCaw, 2020). Key to this, however, would be the motivations behind the reasons for the intervention and the ideology of the school and the staff involved in delivery. Again, this element aligns with previous studies showing that children perceived that mindfulness helped them in reducing their stress and managing their emotions and offered a strategy for improving wellbeing and engagement at school (Perkins et al., 2022; Rowland et al., 2023). Although the trial was conducted in unprecedented circumstances, post lockdown, with the impact of the isolation reflected in the children’s choices around taking friends and family into the Garden, the data detailed many events that were part of the children’s everyday lives and were not necessarily related to the pandemic or lockdown and that may well persist moving forward (Holt & Murray, 2022). The repercussions of issues in society around inconsistent parenting, mental health and disharmony in the home, illness, and the cost of living highlight the need for holistic and social and emotional interventions in schools by way of some protection against the risk factors of society ongoing (Alzahrani et al., 2019). Regarding funding for the issue, the budget for the emotional health and wellbeing of children and the training of mental health leads as per the school in the study was allocated in 2021 for £79 million (Department for Health and Social Care, 2021). However, if emotional and cognitive regulation is not prioritised (Alzahrani et al., 2019), the funding allocated to the training of mental health leads will be insignificant and irrelevant compared to the long-term financial cost of adverse childhood experiences to society in England and Wales, estimated at £43 billion (Asmussen & McBride, 2021). If children could self-regulate in Year 4—or even earlier—exclusion, the associated trauma, and negatively correlated long-term life trajectory may be prevented and instead they may acquire the skills for successful participation in school and life moving forward (Arnez & Condry, 2021). By way of criticism, in the educational marketplace, it is recognised that interventions are often utilised with the objective of efficiencies and, in the case of challenging learners, with a view towards behaviour management, and improved exam success and positions in league tables, in line with ideas of “thin” mindfulness practices (McCaw, 2020; Gilbert, 2023). However, whilst we might acknowledge a neoliberalist agenda, the benefits of self-regulation and subsequent academic achievement that mindfulness interventions can provide cannot be underestimated if children are to succeed in life. Studies such as this call into question the purpose of education, particularly for our youngest children, with several children stating they preferred to go back into lockdown rather than be faced with further tests at school. Whilst school certainly has a role to play in the stressors children face, they are navigating a political ideology of education in a society that dictates and favours a more “rigorous” curriculum within the overarching tenet of a neoliberal market economy (Montacute et al., 2022; Sims, 2017). The only negative to the Garden specified by the HPW was the lack of available time to consistently commit to the practice for more children, due to the pressures of the curriculum. If schools are to be free to implement the activities that deliver and develop the social and emotional learning and skills that our children desperately need, a reimagining and redesign of education policy and provision is required and a secure place for those activities prioritised and ringfenced in the curriculum and appropriate funding allocated to realise these priorities.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
Frederick Douglass (1817–1895).

Limitations and Future Directions

Reflecting on the use of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2021) as the method for data analysis, the researcher would note that her proximity to the study and the participants, due to online restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented her from being able to visiting the setting regularly, or immerse herself in the classroom more frequently, limiting the opportunity to observe and get to know the children herself, relying on the accounts of the HPW and the classroom teacher regarding the outcomes. Many parents did not engage in the research in terms of the questionnaire, with only five parents completing, and it is unknown how many parents engaged with the Garden with their children at home. For those that completed the questionnaire, the responses were 100% positive. However, the pandemic was unprecedented and future research would afford an increased knowledge of the participants’ background to enable deeper reflection on the dataset and her own knowledge as researcher and resource, in enacting reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2021). Systematic reviews such as Phan et al. (2022) suggest that MBSIs potentially lack objectivity and rigour around base levels of children’s emotional and cognitive regulation, and rigorous longitudinal studies around ongoing commitment to use and improvement, and this would hold true for the current study. Moving forward, it may be useful to establish baseline levels of key issues for key children, for example, the Perceived Stress Scale for Children (PSS-C) (White, 2014) and Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCAD25-C) (Ebesutani et al., 2017), that may provide for increased rigour and strength of design for studies around key physiological and psychological stressors (Phan et al., 2022). The engagement of an educational psychologist and/or child therapist in the discussions with the children and in the analysis of the findings, particularly around the full employment of the legend and its suggestions for support at the back of the book, may also have served to strengthen and validate the findings. However, the positive impacts around the reduced anxieties, improved relationships, and reintegration into school life that “My Magical Garden” offered are difficult to ignore and open the door for further clinical efficacy and process-orientated studies around holistic and complimentary interventions, to be conducted. Moving forward, the researcher hopes to conduct a study exploring the use of the intervention for inclusive, mainstream practice with children with autism spectrum condition.

Acknowledgements

The author is very grateful support of the participating school and programme implementers and students’ time and willingness to participate in this study.

Declarations

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
The study received full and ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the University of the West of England prior to commencing.
Written informed consent for participation and research finding dissemination was obtained from the parents or legal guardians and youth assent from participants. The researcher obtained consent from key “gatekeepers”—the Head of School, the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing, and the participating teachers. The children gave their consent in line with the belief of the researcher that they are fully able to do so and with a recognition of the sensitivity of ethical consent and ongoing assent of the children in the spontaneous unscripted interactions between the researcher and participants (Harcourt & Conroy, 2011; Lee, 2022).

Disclaimer

The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely the author’s. None of the research participants nor the author of “My Magical Garden” had a role in study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; writing or submission for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares no competing interests.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://​creativecommons.​org/​licenses/​by/​4.​0/​.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
share
DELEN

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

  • Optie A:
    Klik op de rechtermuisknop op de link en selecteer de optie “linkadres kopiëren”
  • Optie B:
    Deel de link per e-mail

Onze productaanbevelingen

BSL Psychologie Totaal

Met BSL Psychologie Totaal blijf je als professional steeds op de hoogte van de nieuwste ontwikkelingen binnen jouw vak. Met het online abonnement heb je toegang tot een groot aantal boeken, protocollen, vaktijdschriften en e-learnings op het gebied van psychologie en psychiatrie. Zo kun je op je gemak en wanneer het jou het beste uitkomt verdiepen in jouw vakgebied.

BSL Academy Accare GGZ collective

BSL GOP_opleiding GZ-psycholoog

Literatuur
go back to reference Bjorbækmo, W. S., Greve, A., & Asbjørnslett, M. (2022). “This is not me”– A critical discussion about methodological issues concerning agency and participatory sense-making in qualitative research with children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 16094069221118990. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221118990 Bjorbækmo, W. S., Greve, A., & Asbjørnslett, M. (2022). “This is not me”– A critical discussion about methodological issues concerning agency and participatory sense-making in qualitative research with children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 16094069221118990. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1177/​1609406922111899​0
go back to reference Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage. Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage.
go back to reference Donald, J. N., Sahdra, B. K., Van Zanden, B., Duineveld, J. J., Atkins, P. W., Marshall, S. L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2019). Does your mindfulness benefit others? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the link between mindfulness and prosocial behaviour. British Journal of Psychology, 110(1), 101–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12338CrossRefPubMed Donald, J. N., Sahdra, B. K., Van Zanden, B., Duineveld, J. J., Atkins, P. W., Marshall, S. L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2019). Does your mindfulness benefit others? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the link between mindfulness and prosocial behaviour. British Journal of Psychology, 110(1), 101–125. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1111/​bjop.​12338CrossRefPubMed
go back to reference Flook, L., Goldberg, S. B., Pinger, L., & Davidson, R. J. (2015). Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum. Developmental Psychology, 51(1), 44–51.CrossRefPubMed Flook, L., Goldberg, S. B., Pinger, L., & Davidson, R. J. (2015). Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum. Developmental Psychology, 51(1), 44–51.CrossRefPubMed
go back to reference Galinha, I. C., Carvalho, J. S., Oliveira, A. C., Arriaga, P., Gaspar, A. D., & Ortega, V. (2024). MindRegulation: Randomized controlled trial of the effects of a relaxation and guided imagery intervention on the psychophysiological well-being, socioemotional regulation, cognitive and academic development of children in school. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3906571/v1 Galinha, I. C., Carvalho, J. S., Oliveira, A. C., Arriaga, P., Gaspar, A. D., & Ortega, V. (2024). MindRegulation: Randomized controlled trial of the effects of a relaxation and guided imagery intervention on the psychophysiological well-being, socioemotional regulation, cognitive and academic development of children in school. Research Square. https://​doi.​org/​10.​21203/​rs.​3.​rs-3906571/​v1
go back to reference Gray & Allen, (2013). My magical garden. Holistic Healing 4 Children. Gray & Allen, (2013). My magical garden. Holistic Healing 4 Children.
go back to reference Harcourt, D., & Conroy, H. (2011). Informed consent: Processes and procedures in seeking research partnerships with young children. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry, & T. Waller (Eds.), Researching young children’s perspectives (pp. 38–51). Routledge.CrossRef Harcourt, D., & Conroy, H. (2011). Informed consent: Processes and procedures in seeking research partnerships with young children. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry, & T. Waller (Eds.), Researching young children’s perspectives (pp. 38–51). Routledge.CrossRef
go back to reference Lee, C. (2022). Ethical perplexities of researching with children in uncertain times: a dialogic approach. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 31(1–2), 124–147. Lee, C. (2022). Ethical perplexities of researching with children in uncertain times: a dialogic approach. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 31(1–2), 124–147.
go back to reference Liew, J., Valiente, C., Hernández, M. M., & Abera, D. (2019). Emotional self-regulation and reactivity, school-based relationships, and school engagement and achievement. In D. Whitebread, V. Gau, K. Kumpulainen, M. M. McClelland, N. E. Perry, & D. Pino-Pasternak (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of developmental psychology and early childhood education (pp. 42–62). Sage. Liew, J., Valiente, C., Hernández, M. M., & Abera, D. (2019). Emotional self-regulation and reactivity, school-based relationships, and school engagement and achievement. In D. Whitebread, V. Gau, K. Kumpulainen, M. M. McClelland, N. E. Perry, & D. Pino-Pasternak (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of developmental psychology and early childhood education (pp. 42–62). Sage.
go back to reference Loades, M. E., Chatburn, E., Higson-Sweeney, N., Reynolds, S., Shafran, R., Brigden, A., & Crawley, E. (2020). Rapid systematic review: The impact of social isolation and loneliness on the mental health of children and adolescents in the context of COVID-19. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(11), 1218–1239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.05.009CrossRef Loades, M. E., Chatburn, E., Higson-Sweeney, N., Reynolds, S., Shafran, R., Brigden, A., & Crawley, E. (2020). Rapid systematic review: The impact of social isolation and loneliness on the mental health of children and adolescents in the context of COVID-19. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(11), 1218–1239. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/​j.​jaac.​2020.​05.​009CrossRef
go back to reference Moyes, E., Nutman, G., & Mirman, J. H. (2022). The efficacy of targeted mindfulness-based interventions for improving mental health and cognition among youth and adults with ACE histories: A systematic mixed studies review. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 15(4), 1165–1177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-022-00454-5CrossRef Moyes, E., Nutman, G., & Mirman, J. H. (2022). The efficacy of targeted mindfulness-based interventions for improving mental health and cognition among youth and adults with ACE histories: A systematic mixed studies review. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 15(4), 1165–1177. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1007/​s40653-022-00454-5CrossRef
go back to reference Pickerell, L. E., Pennington, K., Cartledge, C., Miller, K. A., & Curtis, F. (2023). The effectiveness of school-based mindfulness and cognitive behavioural programmes to improve emotional regulation in 7–12-year-olds: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 14(5), 1068–1087. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02131-6CrossRef Pickerell, L. E., Pennington, K., Cartledge, C., Miller, K. A., & Curtis, F. (2023). The effectiveness of school-based mindfulness and cognitive behavioural programmes to improve emotional regulation in 7–12-year-olds: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 14(5), 1068–1087. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1007/​s12671-023-02131-6CrossRef
go back to reference Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W W Norton & Co. Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W W Norton & Co.
go back to reference Purser, R. E. (2019). McMindfulness, how mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. Repeater Books. Purser, R. E. (2019). McMindfulness, how mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. Repeater Books.
go back to reference Ribeiro, A. I., Triguero-Mas, M., Santos, C. J., Gómez-Nieto, A., Cole, H., Anguelovski, I., Silva, F. M., & Baró, F. (2021). Exposure to nature and mental health outcomes during COVID-19 lockdown. A comparison between Portugal and Spain. Environment International, 154, 106664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106664 Ribeiro, A. I., Triguero-Mas, M., Santos, C. J., Gómez-Nieto, A., Cole, H., Anguelovski, I., Silva, F. M., & Baró, F. (2021). Exposure to nature and mental health outcomes during COVID-19 lockdown. A comparison between Portugal and Spain. Environment International, 154, 106664. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/​j.​envint.​2021.​106664
go back to reference Ruslin, R., Mashuri, S., Rasak, M. S. A., Alhabsyi, F., & Syam, H. (2022). Semi-structured interview: A methodological reflection on the development of a qualitative research instrument in educational studies. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME), 12(1), 22–29. Ruslin, R., Mashuri, S., Rasak, M. S. A., Alhabsyi, F., & Syam, H. (2022). Semi-structured interview: A methodological reflection on the development of a qualitative research instrument in educational studies. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME), 12(1), 22–29.
go back to reference Solloway, S. G. (2000). Contemplative practitioners: Presence or the project of thinking gaze differently. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 13(3), 30–42. Solloway, S. G. (2000). Contemplative practitioners: Presence or the project of thinking gaze differently. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 13(3), 30–42.
Metagegevens
Titel
Mindfulness as an Intervention for Self-Regulation and School Reintegration in a Trauma-Informed Primary School Post COVID-19 Lockdown
Auteur
Katrina Diamond
Publicatiedatum
29-07-2024
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Mindfulness / Uitgave 8/2024
Print ISSN: 1868-8527
Elektronisch ISSN: 1868-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-024-02408-4