Date created: | Last Updated:

Category: Project

Description: The project focuses on the effects of Paws.b on prosocial behaviour, for 7 to 11 year olds in schools in the United Kingdom (UK). Mindfulness is used to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults (Khoury et al., 2013), and more recently has become popular in schools (Weare, 2018), with the purpose of increasing wellbeing in students. Prosocial behaviour refers to a wide range of actions intended to benefit or support others, such as helping, cooperating, sharing, comforting or informing. Prosocial behaviours emerge in infancy and develop throughout the preschool years (Yarrow et. al., 1976; Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013; Eisenberg, 2014). For instance, young children help others achieve instrumental goals, share resources, show natural concern when others are hurt, and provide information to others. Obeying the rules and conforming to norms are also regarded as prosocial behaviours. Although the prosocial behaviours that children can produce are well documented, we still have much to learn about the factors that modulate them. Investigating the effect of MBIs, such as Paws.b, on schoolchildren’s prosociality is an important emerging avenue for research in a changing society where children increasingly participate in classrooms that include groups with varied ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Research on MBIs for children and adolescents suggests small to medium effects in improving psycho-social health and wellbeing (Black, 2016), cognition (Maynard et. al., 2017), academic grades (Flook et. al., 2015) and physical health (Barnes et. al., 2004) and reducing disruptive behaviour (Klingbeil et. al., 2017). More recently, Cheang et. al. (2019) identified a link between MBIs and an increase in empathy and compassion in children and adolescents. Whether this translates to an increase in actual prosocial behaviours in more naturalistic, classroom settings remains an important question for research. The current study will address this gap in literature and investigate the effects of the MBI Paws.b on children’s actual classroom behaviours, as perceived by the children themselves and their teachers. Mindfulness has been recommended in UK schools by the UK's Centre for Translational Research (Mindfulness Initiative, 2018). A review by Weare (2018) summarised the findings from systematic reviews (Burke, 2010; Felver, 2015; Black, 2016) and meta-analyses (Zenner et al, 2014; Zoogman et al, 2014; Kallapiran et al, 2015; Klingbeil et al, 2017a; Klingbeil et al, 2017b; Maynard et. al., 2017), into MBIs to date. It identified the following areas of weakness in current research: lack of randomised-control-trials (RCTs); overlap between developer and researcher; little replication and short follow-ups; limited measures specifically for young people and a lack of multi-informant measures. Our study design addresses these methodological issues, as detailed in the methodology sections below. Most existing research with younger groups has been in the United States, with the majority involving adolescents. Further research is therefore required to study the effects of a specific, well-established MBI for children (rather than adolescents) in the UK. Finally, most interventions currently available have been adapted from Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (Maynard et. al., 2017). According to The Mindful Initiative (2018), the three largest organisations currently implementing MBIs in UK schools are Mindfulness In Schools Project (MiSP, 2018), the Youth Mindfulness Kids Programme (Youthmindfulness, 2018) and MindUp (Mindup, 2018). However, the majority of the research into the effects of MBIs have not focused on these programs specifically. This research will use an intervention developed by the Mindfulness in Schools Project, called Paws.b, which is specifically designed for 7 - 11 year olds.