Implementation Reporting Recommendations for School-Based Mindfulness Programs

Abstract

Objectives Research on school-based mindfulness programs (SBMPs) indicates promising, albeit mixed, effects. However, there has been a lack of consistency and completeness in implementation reporting, frustrating efforts to draw causal inferences about the implementation elements that influence program outcomes. To address these issues, we crafted a conceptual framework with an accompanying set of key terms for SBMP implementation elements to guide the development of flexible and practical implementation reporting recommendations for studies of SBMPs. Methods To develop the framework and recommendations, we drew insights from the implementation science and school-based prevention literature, explored reporting standards across behavioral science fields, and examined reviews and studies of SBMPs that had an implementation focus. Results The SBMP Implementation Framework (SBMP-IF) is organized by four broad categories (i.e., the program, participants, context, and implementation), which inform the reporting recommendations. The recommendations nudge researchers toward more complete and consistent reporting of school contextual factors, participant characteristics and responsiveness, and teacher training/competence. They also encourage researchers to explicitly identify and incorporate into their theories of change and measurement strategies the Hypothesized and/or Validated Core Components of the program, as well as the key elements of the Implementation Support System. Finally, the recommendations urge researchers to define and operationalize mindfulness in their theories of change and consider child development when implementing and studying SBMPs. Conclusions The recommendations offered are novel for the field of SBMPs and represent a bold effort to strengthen the evidence base and help discern for whom SBMPs work best and under which conditions.

Effects of brief mindfulness practice on reading performance among racially minoritized adolescents.

“…Specifically, research should examine the extent to which MBP may indirectly improve reading comprehension above and beyond interventions that explicitly teach reading comprehension skills (e.g., reciprocal teaching; Palinscar & Brown, 1984). In addition, research should measure and directly compare study implementation characteristics (Baelen et al, 2023) and core program components (Felver et al, 2023) to explore how effective MBP is relative to other well-established interventions to provide more persuasive evidence for the benefits of MBP for reading comprehension.…”

Do Not Keep Calm and Carry on: School-Based Mindfulness Programmes Should Test Making Mindfulness Practice Available in the School Day

“…If the results of these two preliminary studies are positive, then medium-scale, rigorous, well-conducted, and well-reported studies will likely be necessary to provide the groundwork for larger scale studies (Baelen et al, 2023). Given the research that has already been conducted, these studies will not need to compare mindfulness programmes that make mindfulness practice time available in the school day to mindfulness programmes that are minimally intrusive to school function, as approaches that do not make mindfulness practice available in the school day have already been tested.…”

Extensions beyond program impacts: Conceptual and methodological considerations in studying the implementation of a preschool social emotional learning program

“…Once a program has been found to be efficacious, implementation data can also be used to explore why a program was effective and answer "what are the core components of the program?" (see Baelen et al, 2022). Core components can be defined as "the most essential and indispensable components of an intervention practice or program" (Fixsen et al, 2005, p. 24).…”

“…Determining the core components of a program requires an iterative process of testing and refining an intervention or program over time (Fixsen et al, 2005). In the initial implementation of a program, implementation data can be used to clarify and solidify the core components of the program being tested (see Baelen et al, 2022). Ideally, researchers will not stop at determining that an intervention is effective, but rather continue investing in a program with additional studies that test the accuracy and impact of specific core components.…”

“…In our study, implementation agent refers to our implementation director and intervention agent refers to preschool teachers implementing the MindUP™ curriculum in their classroom with students. (Baelen et al, 2022;Roeser et al, 2022).…”