Mindfulness training in schools does not improve children’s mental health

Teaching children mindfulness in schools seems like such a good idea. Surveys repeatedly show that mental health in children and young people is declining, so why not try to help build resilience at a crucial time in development, before problems arise? But an eight year study involving 28 000 children across 100 schools found that mindfulness had no effect on mental health and wellbeing across a range of measures.1Instead, say the researchers behind the Myriad (my resilience in adolescence) study, who assessed a standardised 10 week mindfulness programme in 11 to 14 years olds, what seems to be more important is the culture of the school. Their series of papers published on 12 July and in a special issue of Evidence-Based Mental Health (a BMJ journal) show that a “one size fits all” mindfulness programme in schools is not the right approach.But the size of the study allowed the team…
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