Implementation of the PME

Details of the PME are provided in the appendices of this paper. This section addresses some of the concerns raised by the literature with regards to

implementing mindfulness programmes in schools. Findings from this research are used to discuss how the PME in this study addressed those concerns.

Core elements of MBA common to different programmes and reporting of programme or intervention detail. Meiklejohn et al. (2012) ask which core

mindfulness exercises are common to MBA with children. There is a wide variety of MBA that have been implemented in the research (Burke, 2010) and the reporting of the content the MBA used is often missing or provides

insufficient detail for replication (Zenner et al., 2014). This lack of detail causes two problems. Firstly, studies may have difficulty in replicating the content of previous studies which limits the comparisons that can be drawn. Secondly, different MBA may use very different exercises and methods of delivery to develop ‘mindfulness’ in the students, therefore it is problematic to draw conclusions about the ‘active ingredients’ of MBA.

The PME content used in this study is reported in this paper and easy

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who ran the programme stated that the level of planning and the resources provided enabled her to run the sessions with minimal preparation. Weare (2013) argues that common elements of MBA with children are developing. The wide variety of programmes and a lack of reporting of programme details are problematic for the field in reaching agreement about what works in

mindfulness programmes and to what extent.

Targeted intervention or universal? Similar to Britton et al.’s (2014) study my

research involved MBA that could be delivered by classroom teachers during the normal school day. The PME was for all students and so avoided some of the self-selection bias that has occurred in other studies of MBA with children (Britton et al., 2014). Meiklejohn et al. (2012) recommend more universal applications of MBA in schools to further the evidence base for the effects of the interventions on the general population. The PME used in this study whilst aimed at all the children in a class will have been experienced by different children in different ways with some children opting to not participate in all the sessions. Running a universal programme removes some of the stigma of a withdrawal programme but introduces the possibility that not all children wish to take part. An interesting question posed by the tutor in this study and Britton et al. (2014) is whether mindfulness is equally beneficial for everyone. Future developments in the field may examine which individuals may receive no benefits from MBA or for whom MBA may even be iatrogenic (Greenberg & Harris, 2012).

Adaptation of adult MBA for use with children. Burke (2010) reported that

the studies in her review used adaptations of MBSR and MBCT although there were many variations and some use ‘elements’ of MBSR. Practices with

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children are generally shorter than with adults and based on concrete

experience (Weare, 2013). Adapting MBA for children requires attention to age related developmental needs and acknowledging the fact that children are somewhat embedded within their family and school systems (Burke, 2010). The PME in this study involved a range of exercises specifically aimed at children aged 5-12 years of age and included concrete experiences like attention to the breath and mindful eating. Feedback from the tutors indicated that the content of the PME used age appropriate language and expectations of exercises to be undertaken was realistic for most children in Year 5. Several of the children participating commented that they had difficulty in sitting still. It may be that for some children the act of sitting still presents particular difficulties or is developmentally inappropriate. In one study of MBCT for adolescents with ADHD the length of ‘meditation’ was gradually increased over the course of the programme (Haydicky et al., 2015). It would be interesting to find out if children who had difficulty in sitting still could increase the amount of time they sit still after regular mindfulness exercises.

Conformity to a specified programme (fidelity). The question of fidelity has

been raised when assessing the impact of MBA with children (Joyce et al., 2010; Meiklejohn et al., 2012). The extent to which teachers (trained or otherwise) deliver the mindfulness programme or intervention as intended by the authors is one that has not been regularly reported in existing mindfulness research with children (Harnett & Dawe, 2012). The use of a CD and a script, together with the short timings of each session meant that the content delivery of the PME in this study was most likely the same for both classes. Both

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the planning sheet. Children’s questionnaire responses and interviews indicated that children were familiar with a range of exercises in the PME. In my role as researcher I was in regular contact with the tutors and was aware of which exercises had been completed. Possible differences in implementation are the tutors’ attitude to the PME, their own level of participation in the exercises and the classroom climate during the daily session.