IntroductionThe review described in this protocol will be the first critical realist review of the literature reporting on the impact of interventions to promote pupils’ wellbeing by improving the school climate in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The review is being carried out to inform the programme theory for a critical realist evaluation of a whole school mindfulness intervention in Ethiopia and Rwanda to improve pupils’ mental wellbeing. Our initial programme theory hypothesises that pupils’ (and teachers’) responses to the mindfulness intervention as well as changing the behaviour and attitudes of individual pupils and teachers, will change the ‘school climate’ in ways that have a positive impact on mental wellbeing. This literature review will facilitate the identification of mechanisms for change working at the level of the whole school climate, something which is only infrequently discussed in evaluations of mindfulness interventions.Methods and analysisA critical realist review methodology will be used to provide a causal interdisciplinary understanding of how school climate can promote the wellbeing of pupils. This will be done through a systematic literature review and extrapolating context, agency, intervention, mechanisms, and outcome configurations and synthesising these to provide a conceptual understanding of the impact of interventions to improve school climate.DiscussionThe review findings will inform a critical realist evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in schools that we will be carrying out. The findings from the review will enable us to focus more precisely and transparently on what policymakers and other stakeholders need to know about how school climate changes due to introducing mindfulness to the curriculum and how this impacts pupils’ wellbeing [and for which pupils]. We will publish the findings from the review in academic and professional publications, policy briefs, workshops, conferences, and social media.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42023417735

Introduction The review described in this protocol will be the first critical realist review of the literature reporting on the impact of mindfulness interventions in schools on the mental wellbeing of pupils. Mindfulness interventions are increasingly being introduced into schools to promote children's (and teachers') wellbeing. Findings from impact evaluations, including systematic reviews and metanalysis, suggest that school-based mindfulness interventions promote pupils' wellbeing. However, there is a need for further evidence on how they work and for whom and under what circumstances. Methods and analysis A critical realist review methodology will be used to provide a causal interdisciplinary understanding of how mindfulness interventions in schools promote the mental wellbeing of pupils. This will be done through a systematic literature review and extrapolating context, agency, intervention, mechanisms, and outcome configurations. This will enable us to understand how in certain contexts, pupils can use the resources offered by a mindfulness intervention to trigger mechanisms that promote their mental wellbeing and what mechanisms in the context support, restrict or prevent change. We will then use retrodiction and retroduction to develop the most plausible interdisciplinary middle-range theory to explain the findings. Discussion The review findings will inform a critical realist evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in schools that we will be carrying out. The findings from the review will enable us to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about what conditions need to be in place for mindfulness interventions to promote pupils' mental wellbeing and for which pupils. We will publish the findings from the review in academic and professional publications, policy briefs, workshops, conferences, and social media.

Background Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly delivered in schools with the aim of promoting the mental wellbeing of pupils. The apparent success of such interventions has led to calls for mindfulness to be included in the school curriculum. However, the findings are more mixed than is often acknowledged and this may in part be because the theories justifying are rarely considered. Understanding the scientific theories underpinning SBMIs may improve the outcomes from interventions. In this paper we outline our scoping review protocol to systematically review the literature to map the scientific theories that have been identified to justify using school-based mindfulness interventions to promote pupils’ wellbeing. Methods  The scoping review methodology will guide the conduct of the review. We will limit our search to scholarly databases and PhD theses to ensure the credibility of the theories. The following databases will be used: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed Central, Scopus and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Two reviewers will independently screen all abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. We will include any study that includes a theoretical explanation linking a mindfulness intervention with its impact. Information from the papers will be extracted using a framework developed by the team.Discussion The scoping review will map, classify and compare scientific theories that have been used in the literature to justify the use of school-based mindfulness intervention to promote pupils’ mental wellbeing. The findings will be disseminated through a peer -reviewed journal article, conference presentations, our project website and social media.