Mindful Matters: Addressing Barriers To Classroom-Based Mindfulness

A growing body of research suggests that incorporating classroom-based mindfulness interventions in elementary schools is associated with improvements in student behavior, self-regulation, and measures of mental health. However, the adoption of teacher-led mindfulness programs in California’s public schools has not been widely embraced. This doctoral project explored the impact of an educational intervention on pre-service teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, and intentions to implement mindfulness interventions in their classrooms. A brief educational intervention and website resource were provided to multidisciplinary teaching credential students in a 2-year graduate credential program. Participants completed a pre- and post-intervention survey to evaluate their intentions to implement mindfulness practices, as well as their perceptions about the acceptability, reasonableness, and effectiveness of incorporating mindfulness interventions in the classroom. Participants’ pre- to post-intervention scores on measures of attitudes about mindfulness and intentions to implement mindfulness interventions increased significantly. Older participants (ages 25-34) demonstrated greater score increases on the measure of attitudes about mindfulness than younger participants (ages 20-24). Previous mindfulness experience was associated with higher pre-intervention scores on a measure of participants’ intentions to implement mindfulness practices; and students with no previous mindfulness experience demonstrated greater pre- to post-intervention increases in scores on this measure. These results indicate that exposure to mindfulness concepts, practices, and resources may increase willingness of pre-service teachers to adopt these practices in their classrooms