Effects of mindful awareness practices on executive functions in elementary school children.
Flook, L., Smalley, S. L., Kitil, M. J., Galla, B. M., Kaiser-Greenland, S., Locke, J., … Kasari, C. (2010). Journal of Applied School Psychology, 26(1), 70–95. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ880516
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examining64Students, grades2-3
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2024
- Single Study Review (findings for Mindfulness-based intervention)
- Promoting Social and Behavioral Success for Learning in Elementary Schools Review Protocol 2.0
- Review Standards 4.0
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI)-Parent |
Mindfulness-based intervention vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
42.40 |
46.22 |
Yes |
|
|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 55%
Male: 45% -
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California
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Race Asian 14% Black 9% Other or unknown 9% White 45% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 23% Not Hispanic or Latino 77%
Study Details
Setting
This study was conducted in a general education setting, involving 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms in an on-campus university elementary school in Los Angeles.
Study sample
The sample was comprised of 35 girls and 29 boys. The sample was diverse in terms of children’s ethnic backgrounds: 45 percent Caucasian, 23 percent Latino, 14 percent Asian, 9 percent African American, and 9 percent other.
Intervention Group
The mindful awareness practices training is a curriculum that uses secular and age appropriate exercises and games to foster increased self-awareness in a variety of contexts including sensory awareness, and emotional awareness (i.e., ones' thoughts and feelings), awareness of others and awareness of the environment. The curriculum is implemented over an 8-week period with two 30-minute sessions weekly. Most activities involve interactions with others, either other students or the instructor. Each activity has several parts, three-minute sitting meditation, a game, a five minute prone meditation. Over time, the meditation components are increased in duration.
Comparison Group
The control group consisted of a silent reading period and did not experience any exercises that treatment group received.
Support for implementation
No support is explicitly identified.
Grant Competition
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2016
- Grant Competition
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Does not meet WWC standards because equivalence of the analytic intervention and comparison groups is necessary and not demonstrated.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Study sample characteristics were not reported.An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).