51-2 The Impact of Mindfulness in School at Taiwan: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
| Jing-Hua Chen | Min-Ning Yu |
| Army Academy R. O. C | National Chengchi University |
In recent years, researches on mindfulness in Europe and the United States have been booming. Mindfulness is generally used in a variety of fields, such as medicine, psychotherapy, health care, business and education. Mindfulness in schools is also becoming more and more popular. Mindfulness, perceived in a particular way, is purposeful awareness in the present moment and being nonjudgmental. Research shows that mindfulness can not only reduce anxiety and depression, but also promote concentration, emotional management and human relationships. Mindfulness promotes happiness and self-compassion. Mindfulness has its effects in cognitive performance, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and stress management. The aim of this paper is tantamount to understand the impact of mindfulness in the school at Taiwan. The systematic review and meta-analysis used data from thesis, dissertations, and peer review journals from 1991 to 2016 as inputs in understanding the impact of mindfulness in the school at Taiwan. Twenty-six studies were identified. In total, 2279 students were instructed in mindfulness, with 1250 serving as control group and 1029 as treated group, ranging from kindergartens to colleges. A meta-analysis is applied as the research method in order to understand the differences between the experimental group and the control group and to examine the overall effect and heterogeneity. According to the results of heterogeneity test, the effect model was selected and the moderators were concerned, such as the age of participants, the duration of mindfulness intervention and the category of mindfulness effect. This study utilized CMA (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) statistical analysis software for meta-analysis. CMA proposed publication error verification. The study of failed-safe N = 11.38905 (p = .000), reaching a significant level of .001, indicating no publication bias. The results revealed that overall effect sizes were medium and positive. Among groups for domains were stress management, cognitive performance, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, which effect sizes were all positive. The mindfulness intervention time within 1-8 weeks was the best, and the effect of mindfulness was no significant differences in ages. Overall, the benefits of mindfulness in schools were positive. Finally, according to the research findings, practical suggestions for educational policy-making and researches were proposed. In educational practice, school authorities can systematically arrange various mindfulness training courses based on the needs of students and faculty members, including: (1) mindfulness and empowering courses for teachers, (2) academic achievement mindfulness courses, (3) emotion management mindfulness courses, (4) mindfulness-based stress reduction courses, (5) mindfulness general elective courses. In research limitations and future research, according to the conclusions of this study, the effect of mindfulness training has its effect in cognitive performance, stress management, emotional management and interpersonal skills. However, the diversity of study samples, vary in implementation and training, and a wide range of instruments and differentiated examination of data were difficult to be identified, too. There was great heterogeneity. Many studies were underpowered, and measuring effects of mindfulness in this setting was challenging. Based on this study, mindfulness training implemented in each research paper has its own different approach. Therefore, if future studies can explore the effects of mindfulness produced by different mindfulness training, so that participants can join in different mindfulness training according to their needs. Furthermore, for the prediction of the effects of mindfulness, there should be more precise theoretical basis for understanding and explaining the psychological mechanism of mindfulness, such as when and why the impacts of mindfulness happen. Through this study, it may also enrich the theory of psychology, and, in addition, the development of mindfulness measurement tools, so that it can lead to a more correct measurement of the mindfulness. According to different purposes of mindfulness to seek the appropriate mindfulness scale, the research will come to a better result.
Keywords
Meta-analysis, mindfulness, Taiwan.
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