Tailored Mindfulness Intervention in Adolescence
Condition: Stress; Mindfulness; Affect
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Approximately 13%-20% of children living in the United States experience a mental health
      problem in any given year. Youth with mental illness have difficulty in social settings and
      have poor academic performance that place them at risk for increased stress and poor mental
      health outcomes. Stress typically manifests as depression, anxiety, or behavioral issues that
      lead to increasingly complex treatment with psychotropic medication. It would follow that
      reducing stress may be a way to improve psychological well being, prevent poor mental health
      outcomes, and hopefully avoid the need for psychotropic medication. Mindfulness teaching is a
      potentially powerful tool for adolescents because it focuses on reducing stress. Thus far,
      studies have not engaged adolescents in developing a patient-centered approach to mindfulness
      Interventions. The current project would be a significant contribution to clinical practice
      and the scientific evidence for mindfulness interventions. This research targets
      psychological well-being within a vulnerable adolescent population that is generally
      underrepresented in research. The research outcomes will be useful to healthcare providers,
      educators, and parents/families in encouraging optimal outcomes for adolescents. The overall
      goals of this proposed research project are to develop and assess the feasibility of an
      adolescent-developed mindfulness intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      At-risk behaviors are related to poor outcomes among adolescents. Increasing evidence
      supports adolescence as a vital time to introduce stress reduction techniques to reduce risk
      and improve mental health. The proposed study will develop and test a mindfulness
      intervention for adolescents in a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test design.

      Mindfulness teaching is a potentially powerful tool for adolescents because it focuses on
      reducing stress, which can manifest as depression, anxiety or behavioral problems that often
      are managed with complex psychotropic medication regimens. Thus far, studies have not engaged
      adolescents in developing mindfulness interventions. Such interventions are critical given
      that in the United States, 13%-20% of children experience a mental health problem in any
      given year. Moreover, youth with a mental illness have difficulty in social settings and have
      poor academic performance that place them at risk for increased stress and poor mental health
      outcomes. It would follow that reducing stress may be a way to improve psychological
      well-being, prevent poor mental health outcomes, and hopefully avoid the need for complex
      psychotropic medication. The overall goals of this proposed research are to develop and to
      assess the feasibility of an adolescent-developed mindfulness intervention.

      The proposed pilot will build from the PI's prior and current research. Earlier research
      determined that a mindfulness curriculum can have a notable positive impact on affect,
      coping, and mindfulness in at-risk adolescent girls. This work was expanded by engaging the
      perspectives of adolescents' from Southwest Baltimore in planning a mindfulness intervention.
      Earlier research was funded by a pilot grant through an Agency for Healthcare Research and
      Quality (AHRQ) R24 infrastructure grant to promote patient- centered outcomes research (PCOR)
      at the University of Maryland Baltimore. The preliminary data for the current proposal is
      based on these prior studies. The current proposed study, conducted under the Dean's Research
      Scholar program, will test the impact of a mindfulness intervention on decreasing stress and
      increasing well-being in adolescents. The specific aims of the pilot study are to:

        1. To develop a tailored mindfulness program for adolescents in Southwest Baltimore.

        2. To pilot implementation of a tailored a mindfulness program for adolescents residing in
           Southwest Baltimore.

      The proposed study will develop and test a mindfulness intervention for adolescents in a
      non-randomized convenience sampling, quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test
      design.Recruitment will occur among middle school students attending public school in
      Southwest Baltimore. After informed consent and assent, participants will attend mindfulness
      classes (MC) once per week for 12 weeks. The class content will come from previous pilot work
      and focus groups, both conducted by the researcher. MC classes will be led by the Holistic
      Life Foundation. Baseline evaluation will analyze demographics, coping (Response to Stress
      Questionnaire, RSQ), positive affect (10 item Positive and Negative Affect Scale for
      Children, PANAS-C) and mindfulness (Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, MAAS). In
      addition, possible gender differences in outcomes will be analyzed. Participants will be
      contacted 3 months after study completion and again 1 year after study completion to
      re-evaluate study outcomes via self-reported tools used earlier in the study.
    

Intervention name(s): Mindfulness for Adolescence Course
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): There are 6 topics that will each be presented over 2 weeks for the 12 week intervention. Individuals will participate in a one to 1.5 hours, once a week intervention for 12weeks. Mindfulness is the practice of becoming aware of one's present-moment experience with compassion and openness as a basis for wise action. This curriculum is intended to strengthen attention and emotion regulation, cultivate wholesome emotions like gratitude and compassion, expand the repertoire of stress management skills, and help participants integrate mindfulness into daily life. Each lesson includes age-appropriate discussion, activities, and opportunities to practice mindfulness in a group setting.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research