Implementing mindfulness and yoga in urban schools: a community-academic partnership
| Published date | 29 November 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-07-2013-0024 |
| Date | 29 November 2013 |
| Pages | 276-291 |
| Author | Tamar Mendelson,Jacinda K. Dariotis,Laura Feagans Gould,Ali S.R. Smith,Atman A. Smith,Andres A. Gonzalez,Mark T. Greenberg |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Children's services |
Implementing mindfulness and yoga in
urban schools: a community-academic
partnership
Tamar Mendelson, Jacinda K. Dariotis, Laura Feagans Gould, Ali S.R. Smith,
Atman A. Smith, Andres A. Gonzalez and Mark T. Greenberg
Dr Tamar Mendelson is an
Associate Professor,
based at the Department
of Mental Health, Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Baltimore,
Maryland, USA.
Dr Jacinda K. Dariotis is an
Assistant Professor, based at
the Department of Population,
Family, and Reproductive
Health, Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public
Health, Baltimore, Maryland,
USA.
Dr Laura Feagans Gould is
Senior Project Director, based
at SERVE Center, University of
North Carolina at Greensboro,
Browns Summit, North
Carolina, USA.
Ali S.R. Smith, Atman A. Smith
and Andres A. Gonzalez are
Co-Founders of the Holistic
Life Foundation Inc, Baltimore,
Maryland, USA.
Mark T. Greenberg is
a Professor of Human
Development and Psychology
and Director of the Prevention
Research Center,Pennsylvania
State University, University
Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Abstract
Purpose – Mindfulness-based interventions – which train capacities for attention, awareness, compassion,
and self-regulation of thoughts and emotions – may offer unique benefits for urban youth exposed to
chronic stress and adversity. Urban schools are promising settings in which to integrate
mindfulness-based interventions; however, they pose complex challenges for intervention implementation
and evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper reflects on the experiences of our community-academic
partnership conducting two school-based randomised trials on a mindfulness and yoga programme. The
programme was developed by the Holistic Life Foundation and was delivered to middle school students in
public schools serving disadvantaged urban communities.
Findings – This paper discusses barriers and facilitating factors related to effective intervention delivery
and evaluation, presents recommendations for future work and reflects on the potential benefits of
mindfulness-based practices for students, teachers and schools.
Originality/value – The paper offers a detailed account of challenges and opportunities associated with
implementing mindfulness-based practices in urban school settings.
Keywords Implementation, Mindfulness, Holistic Life Foundation, School-based intervention,
Urban youth, Yoga
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Mindfulness-based programmes for youth have become increasingly popular in the USA, UK
and Europe (Greenberg and Harris, 2012; Harnett and Dawe, 2012; Meiklejohn et al., 2012;
Weare, 2012), and a growing number are now delivered in schools. The school setting is a
promising environment for enhancing children’s emotional, cognitive and prosocial
development through training in mindfulness skills. However, this setting also poses complex
challenges to the effective delivery of such skills, particularly in resource-poor schools serving
disadvantaged communities. A growing evidence base highlights that implementation factors in
real-world contexts have a profound impact on intervention outcomes (Durlak and DuPre, 2008;
Durlak et al., 2011). The aim of this paper is to reflect on key factors affecting the delivery and
evaluation of mindfulness-based programmes in urban school settings. We use as a case
example our six-year-long community-academic partnership aimed at implementing and
evaluating a school-based mindfulness and yoga programme and describe our experiences in
the context of two randomised intervention trials. We provide a brief background on the
intervention approach, partnership and context, then consider factors relevant to intervention
PAGE 276
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VOL. 8 NO. 4 2013, pp. 276-291, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 DOI 10.1108/JCS-07-2013-0024
implementation from both practice and research perspectives, and finally explore challenges
and opportunities of integrating mindful practices within the school context.
Mindfulness and yoga for urban youth
Urban youth in low-resource communities experience high levels of chronic and acute stress
associated with poverty and community violence (Farahmand et al., 2011). As a result, such
youth are at increased risk of academic failure and school dropout (MacIver, 2011) as well as
psychological problems, including impaired cognitive and affective regulation and both inter nalising
and externalising symptomsand disorders (Grant et al., 2005; Keenan et al., 1997). Mindfulness-
based programmes are one potentially promising approach to help buffer effects of chronic
stress exposure and improve the interpersonal learning environments in urban schools
serving disadvantaged youth. Derived from eastern contemplative traditions, mindfulness-based
interventions train one’scapacity to attend to the present moment in a receptive and non-judgmental
fashion (Brown and Ryan, 2003) and have been linked with improvements in attention,
stress management, mood and behaviour (Chiesa and Serretti, 2010; Brefczynski-Lewis
et al., 2007; Tang et al., 2009). Yoga is a form of mindfulness practice in which attention is
focused on the breath and on body movement, poses, and alignment.
The few research studies on mindfulness-based programmes targeting urban youth have
found positive effects on hostility, interpersonal relationships, school achievement and physical
health (Sibinga et al., 2011), as well as emotion-regulatory outcomes (Mendelson et al., 2010).
A review of contemplative programmes being implemented in schools identified a growing number
showing promising preliminary findings. Methodologically more rigorous trials, however, areneeded
to advance the scientific state of knowledge in this emerging area (Garrison Institute, 2005;
Greenberg and Harris, 2012).
Urban public school settings
Urban public schools serving disadvantaged communities face a range of complex challenges,
including high teacher turnover rates (Jacob, 2007), high concentration of student behavioural
problems like inattention, impulsivity and defiance (Cappella et al., 2011), and generally poor
academic outcomes (e.g. low standardised test scores, high drop out rates). These schools are
more likely than private, parochial or charter schools – or private schools in affluent communities –
to be staffed with inexperienced teachers who are offered limited professional development
opportunities and mentorship (Haberman, 1996). Teachersw orking in inner-cityschools often have
higher student-teacher ratios and lack support for managing disruptive student behaviours and for
addressing the unique needs of underserved urban students; these in turn contribute to higher
levels of teacher distress and less effective classroom learning environments (Hamre and Pianta,
2010; Jennings and Greenberg, 2009). Not surprisingly, urban teachers suffer from very high levels
of burnout and attrition (McKinney et al., 2007) which negatively impact student achievement and
social-emotional outcomes (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004; Osher et al.,2007).Mindfulness
training may have great potential to transform the educational environment by enhancing stress
management and social-emotional competence for both students and teachers (Gold et al., 2010;
Jennings et al., 2012; Mind and Life Research Network et al., 2012). At the same time, the
characteristics of low-resource urban schools described above may pose barriers to implementing
and testing mindfulness interventions.
Community-academic “mindful partnership”
We have found that a partnership between community mindfulness practitioners and prevention
researchers is a valuable way to address mindfulness in education. Our experience in this
regard is consistent with recent work by prevention researchers highlighting the utility of
community-institutional partnerships for promoting advances in prevention science (Bradshaw
and Haynes, 2012; Brown et al., 2012). Partnerships in which researchers and community
members collaborate on programme development and research are beneficial for several
reasons. First, they bring together diverse expertise and perspectives to better address complex
social problems. Community members can help inform from the ground-up the development of
culturally appropriate and context-relevant interventions, to be subsequently evaluated and
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