Poster #82 - Feasibility and Effectiveness of a School-based Mindfulness Intervention on Peer Relationships among Chinese Migrant Children: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

Children’s peer relationships are considered to impact various aspects of their development and adjustment (Rubin et al., 2006). Chinese migrant children, who migrate with their parents from rural to urban areas, are more likely to encounter peer problems than their urban peers due to multidimensional social inequalities (Wu et al., 2011). It is important to develop effective interventions targeting improving peer relationships for underserved migrant children.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been increasingly applied in improving children’s peer relationship and have yielded promising results (e.g., Bokoch & Noah, 2020; Schonert-Reichl, et al., 2015). Despite the promising preliminary findings, rigorously designed experimental research with active control groups is still scarce. This cluster randomized controlled trial aims to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a school-based MBI on peer relationships relative to an active control group.
Methods
Migrant students were recruited from an elementary school in China. Four classes in grade 4th and grade 5th were randomly divided into a mindfulness group (n=51) and a psychosocial education control group (n=39). Self-reported questionnaires were used to measure children’s mindfulness level, peer relationship quality, and peer problems before and after the intervention.
The MBI protocol is a modified version of a previously validated 12-week mindfulness program (Lu et al., 2018). The psychoeducation group matches the mindfulness group in format and homework. All facilitators received a 2-day training before the intervention and were asked to rate the fidelity of implementation via a weekly checklist. Weekly home exercise was rated and recorded by facilitators.
Baseline characteristics were compared using t-test and chi-square test. To assess group differences over time, one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted with pretest scores as covariates. All analyses were carried out using an intention-to-treat approach.
Results
Eighty-eight children (aged 9-13) completed the study, and all of them attended at least 11 out of the 12 sessions. The intervention overall showed good acceptability and feasibility. The mean scores of implementation quality were 4.7 (out of 5) for the mindfulness group and 4.6 (out of 5) for the control group. The mean score of participant engagement was 4.3 (out of 5) for both groups.
ANCOVAs indicated that the groups did not differ in changes in target outcomes; however, gender difference was identified. Separate ANCOVAs were run for boys and girls. Relative to controls, boys in the MBI group reported significantly higher level of trust (F = 6.3, p = 0.017, partial η2 = 0.145) and communication (F = 4.68, p = 0.037, partial η2 = 0.112) during peer interaction.
Conclusions
These preliminary results suggest that the school-based MBI appears to be feasible and acceptable to Chinese migrant children and may be beneficial for enhancing peer trust and communication for boys. This study provides implications for implementing mindfulness interventions with active control groups in school settings. The findings also warrant the exploration of gender differences in future school-based MBIs.

Authors

• Xiaolu Dai, University of Hong Kong (HKU)
  Presenting Author

• Shuang Lu, University of Central Florida