Using Mindfulness-Based Interventions to Support Self-regulation in Young Children: A Review of the Literature

Promoting Psychological Well-being in Preschoolers Through Mindfulness-based Socio-emotional Learning: A Randomized-controlled Trial

Mental health issues in children and young people are frequent and can have enduring negative consequences. Preventive early interventions delivered at school may foster psychological well-being, and preliminary evidence suggests that mindfulness-based social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions have positive effects on children's mental health. The aim of this study was to evaluate a mindfulness-based SEL curriculum including a French adaptation of the Kindness Curriculum (KC), delivered by pre-kindergarten teachers, in a cluster randomized control trial. Sixty-four classes (761 children, aged 38-58 months) from a socio-economically disadvantaged area in France were randomly assigned to either intervention or waiting-list control conditions. Indicators of children's mental health, self-management, positive relationships with teachers and peers, emotional processing and executive functioning were collected through teacher-rated questionnaires, standardized observations, and behavioral tasks. Results in the whole sample indicated a positive effect of the intervention on children's mental health, including a reduction in emotional, conduct and peer relationship problems, and a reduction in teacher-child conflicts. No significant effects were found on the other indicators. Heterogeneity analyses revealed stronger effects of the intervention on several indicators for children who had a teacher with lower level of teaching experience, for children with lower baseline mental health and for older children. This program therefore appears as a promising early school-based intervention promoting mental health and positive relationships, especially in a subgroup of at-risk preschool-aged children.

The relationship between self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, and resilience among students: a structural equation modeling

BACKGROUND

Cognitive flexibility is an important construct that contributes to one's own thoughts, behaviors, and feelings to achieve his or her goals. Thus, it could play an essential role in students' educational achievements. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between self-regulation and resilience among students.

METHOD

This was a cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of students during the 2022 and 2023 academic years. Students were selected from Tehran and Karaj universities (two metropolitans in central Iran). Data collection instruments included the Bouffard's Self-Regulation Scale, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RSC). Subsequently, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling via SPSS and AMOS software to examine the relationships among variables.

RESULTS

In all 302 students participated in the study. The mean age of students was 25.8 (SD = 4.05) years. The findings indicated that self-regulation had a marked positive direct effect on cognitive flexibility (β = 0.23, p < 0.001), and resilience (β = 0.88, t = 19.50, p < 0.001). Similarly, cognitive flexibility displayed a strong positive influence on resilience (β = 0.1, p < 0.001) it showed an indirect mediating role between self-regulation and resilience (0.02), while resilience demonstrated a negative indirect effect on self-regulation and cognitive flexibility (-0.23). The goodness of fit indices validated the proposed model. Furthermore, the analysis revealed the significance of the final model's direct path coefficients, underscoring the mediating role of cognitive flexibility between self-regulation and resilience among students.

CONCLUSION

The findings indicated a pivotal interrelationship among self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, and resilience in students. The significant positive relationship among these constructs underscores the importance of fostering cognitive flexibility practices and self-regulation in educational settings.

Digitally Assisted Mindfulness in Training Self-Regulation Skills for Sustainable Mental Health: A Systematic Review

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for mental health interventions, with a special focus on digitally assisted ones. Self-regulation describes a set of meta-skills that enable one to take control over his/her mental health and it is recognized as a vital indicator of well-being. Mindfulness training is a promising training strategy for promoting self-regulation, behavioral change, and mental well-being. A growing body of research outlines that smart technologies are ready to revolutionize the way mental health training programs take place. Artificial intelligence (AI); extended reality (XR) including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR); as well as the advancements in brain computer interfaces (BCIs) are ready to transform these mental health training programs. Mindfulness-based interventions assisted by smart technologies for mental, emotional, and behavioral regulation seem to be a crucial yet under-investigated issue. The current systematic review paper aims to explore whether and how smart technologies can assist mindfulness training for the development of self-regulation skills among people at risk of mental health issues as well as populations with various clinical characteristics. The PRISMA 2020 methodology was utilized to respond to the objectives and research questions using a total of sixty-six experimental studies that met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that digitally assisted mindfulness interventions supported by smart technologies, including AI-based applications, chatbots, virtual coaches, immersive technologies, and brain-sensing headbands, can effectively assist trainees in developing a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral self-regulation skills, leading to a greater satisfaction of their psychological needs, and thus mental wellness. These results may provide positive feedback for developing smarter and more inclusive training environments, with a special focus on people with special training needs or disabilities.

The effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on improving executive functions and reducing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in young children

The aim was to investigate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on improving executive functions and reducing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in young children. This study employed a quantitative approach using a quasi-experimental, pretest and post-test and follow up design. 56 children between 5 and 7 years of age(M = 6.9, SD= 1.7) with ADHD or with symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity are being recruited to participate in the mindfulness-based intervention. To determine whether there are any significant differences between the two independent (unrelated) groups on executive functions and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, pre-post-follow up test and multiple comparisons are used. Pretest assessments were conducted for both the control and training groups. Following the pretest, a four-weeks of training commenced for the intervention group only. T-test results for the differences in post- test mean scores between the two groups in EF and in ADHD symptoms showed that the training group outperformed the control group. There were statistical differences in EF and in ADHD symptoms between pre and post measures in favor of post test, and between pre and follow up measures in favor of follow up test, but no statistical differences between post and follow up test. This study demonstrates that it is possible to enhance EF skills using mindfulness-based intervention in which young with ADHD are engaged in a series of group play based activities.

Interventions and Approaches Targeting Early Self-Regulation or Executive Functioning in Preschools: A Systematic Review

This systematic literature review sought to reconcile the evidence of efficacy for interventions and approaches to enhancing self-regulation and/or executive function in preschool settings. Following PRISMA methodology, a comprehensive search of 20 years of intervention research identified 85 studies that met inclusion criteria. Interventions were categorised by intervention approach and coded for their characteristics (e.g. sample size, dose, duration, interventionist, intervention activities), outcomes (e.g. significance, size of effects) and study quality (i.e. risk of bias). Reconciliation of intervention results indicated (1) within intervention approaches, some approaches had more consistent and robust evidence of efficacy (e.g. mindfulness, mediated play, physical activity) and (2) across intervention approaches, characteristics that had greater (or exclusive) presence amongst the higher efficacy interventions (e.g. cognitive challenge, movement, as well as interventionist, fidelity and dose considerations). Implications for future intervention (re)design, and for theorising about mechanisms of self-regulation and executive function change, are discussed.

Enhancing Chinese preschoolers' executive function via mindfulness training: An fNIRS study

Mindfulness training has been found to enable cognitive and emotional awareness and diminish emotional distraction and cognitive rigidity. However, the existing intervention studies have largely focused on school children, adolescents, and adults, leaving young children unexplored. This study examined the influence of mindfulness training on young children using the one-group pretest-posttest design. Altogether 31 Chinese preschoolers (M age = 67.03 months, SD = 4.25) enrolled in a 5-week, twice-per-week mindfulness training. Their cognitive shifting, inhibitory control, and working memory were examined using a battery of executive function tasks. And their brain activations in the region of interest during the tasks were measured using fNIRS before and after the intervention. Results showed that their cognitive shifting and working memory tasks performance significantly improved, and their activation in the DLPFC significantly changed. Implications for this study were also included.