Effectiveness of Mindfulness on Attention Span and Perceived Stress of School Students – Findings from A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Mindfulness based practices develops a present moment awareness in a non-judgemental manner. Such programs have known to be effective in dealing with day-to-day life stresses in adult population, however its role on child population has not been explored extensively. Present study used tailored MBSR module, to explore its effectiveness on Perceived Stress & Attention span of higher secondary school students in school settings. Aim: This study explores the effectiveness of MBSR on Attention Span and Perceived Stress of higher secondary school students in school settings. Method: 10 school students of class 12 in Aizawl, Mizoram, India, aged between 16-18 years, selected using purposive sampling and were equally divided into ‘Training and Normal Control’ group, after screening on DSM-5-TR Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom tool. Baseline assessment was done on SLCT and PSS for all participants, thereafter weekly 7 MBSR sessions were demonstrated to ‘Training group’ participants. After seven weeks, both group participants were re-assessed on same tools and scores were compared. Results: Findings indicated significant differences between the compared groups on outcome measures with noticeable improvement in the attention span and lowering of perceived stress experiences in the group, that received MBSR training. Conclusion: The study concluded that MBSR training is helpful in improving attention span and decreasing perceived stress experiences, their-by, could facilitate overall learning process for school students.