Ensuring College Student Success Through Mindfulness-Based Classes: Just Breathe

Mahfouz, Julia; Levitan, Joseph; Schussler, Deborah L.; Broderick, Trish; Dvorakova, Kami; Argusti, Mark; Greenberg, Mark T.

doi:10.1353/csj.2018.0000

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The responses that students generated in regard to benefits of mindfulness and contemplative practices were numerous and included thoughts such as “they help you become more thankful,” “helps you concentrate,” “it promotes critical thinking,” “they help you understand others more,” “helps you relax,” “they can help with anxiety,” “allows you to be more in touch with yourself,” “reduces anxiety about the future/regret about the past,” “less stress,” and “[makes you] healthier in diverse ways.” Our findings here are consistent with the previous research that indicates that students who practice mindfulness in the classroom report less anxiety, less stress, and better ability to focus and achieve clarity of mind (Mahfouz et al, 2018; Roberts & Danoff-Burg, 2010; Schwind et al, 2017).…”

Section: Findings and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Promoting the Inclusion of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom

Vilvens

Frame

Owen

2020

Pedagogy in Health Promotion

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College students may be particularly stressed as they struggle to balance college life, work, family, and relationships, while engaging in career exploration and attempting to find meaning and purpose in their lives. The current practitioner action research project explored incorporating mindfulness and contemplative practices into the higher education classroom to uncover students’ perceptions of how useful the activities might be for managing their personal stress and anxiety. Thirty-two freshman and sophomore students from a regional campus of a large university consented to participate in the semester-long study, where brief, weekly mindfulness activities were integrated into in-class and out-of-class assignments during an introductory Personal Health course. Study findings indicated that the majority of student participants found mindfulness practices were helpful when it came to decreasing stress and anxiety or relaxing. Making time outside the classroom to practice mindfulness behaviors, however, was a barrier. These findings have both practical and positive implications for future higher education classroom interventions. As such, the authors contend that college-level instructors should incorporate mindfulness and contemplative activities into the curricula of their health education courses to help college students master mindfulness strategies and encourage their use in reducing stress and anxiety.

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Section: Findings and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Promoting the Inclusion of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom

Vilvens

Frame

Owen

2020

Pedagogy in Health Promotion

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“…Given the many challenges students will experience to their academic/social understanding and initial competence during the college transition, developing an attitude of self‐compassion and caring may support improved daily functioning (Mahfouz et al, ). In a study following first semester students those who reported higher levels of self‐compassion showed better college adjustment and were more satisfied with their social relationships (Terry, Leary, & Mehta, ).…”

Section: Adaptive Processes During Transition To Collegementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The student may notice the habitual reactivity to overeat or spend excessive screen time behaviour. Through increased awareness and flexibility, the student may feel encouraged to make the conscious decision to reach out to close friends, participate in activities to meet like‐minded people, or expand the limits of their comfort by engaging in new areas of interest (Mahfouz et al, ).…”

Section: Adaptive Processes During Transition To Collegementioning

confidence: 99%

On the role of mindfulness and compassion skills in students' coping, well‐being, and development across the transition to college: A conceptual analysis

2019

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In this paper, we aim to integrate the current conceptual approaches to stress and coping processes during the college transition with the potential role of mindfulness and compassion (MC) skills on students' well‐being and development. First, we provide an overview of the issues and challenges emerging adults are facing during the transition to college, drawing on the revised version of the transactional stress model by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Second, we introduce a conceptual model of adaptive stress and coping processes enhanced by MC skills to positively impact the appraisal and coping resources and emerging adults' mental health. Specifically, MC skills may play an important role in promoting a healthy stress response by strengthening emerging adults' socioemotional competencies and supporting the development of adaptive appraisal and coping resources, including processes antecedent and consequent to a coping encounter. In particular, MC skills were hypothesized to enhance (a) preparedness to cope, (b) productive stress response through adaptive appraisals and skillful deployment of coping resources, and (c) healthy postcoping reflections. Therefore, MC skills may be a useful preventive tool to strengthen emerging adults' ability to adjust to a new academic environment and fulfil the developmental tasks of this period.

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“…In an ever-changing educational landscape, principals are on the front line of social, political, cultural and technological changes that are occurring at the organizational, local, national and international levels. Relentless change and the increasing complexity of their work at various levels are inevitably having an adverse impact on their health and well-being (Alberta Teachers' Association, 2017; Mahfouz et al , 2018; Pollock and Wang, 2019; Pollock et al , 2017; Riley, 2019; Wang and Pollock, 2020).…”

Section: Tension 2: Context Mattersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guest editorial

Pollock

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Mahfouz

2020

JEA

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Ensuring College Student Success Through Mindfulness-Based Classes: Just Breathe

Cited by 27 publications

References 46 publications

Promoting the Inclusion of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom

Promoting the Inclusion of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom

On the role of mindfulness and compassion skills in students' coping, well‐being, and development across the transition to college: A conceptual analysis

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