Thesis advisor: Joyce Pulcini / This randomized intervention study examined the efficacy and feasibility of a stress reduction program using mindful movement to decrease levels of perceived stress, facilitate coping, enhance self-esteem, and self-regulation in school-age girls. School-age children experience stressors with serious sequelae and need to respond with multiple coping strategies. Girls use maladaptive coping strategies and report lower self-esteem. Evidence-based interventions for stress management in children are scant, contributing to missed opportunities for preventing illness and promoting health. Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a training program of awareness-based practices, including yoga, which was adapted to the development of school-age girls. The questions included: (1) To what extent do school-age girls who participate in an eight week mindful movement intervention report significantly different levels of perceived stress, effectiveness and number of coping strategies, levels of self-esteem, and self-regulation than girls in a wait-list control group? (2) To what extent is the dose of mindful movement inversely correlated with perceived stress and positively correlated with effectiveness and number of coping strategies, self-esteem, and self-regulation? A sample of fourth and fifth grade girls was recruited from two public schools randomized as intervention and wait-list control. The intervention group met one hour a week for eight weeks and completed ten minutes of daily homework. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance with an intention to treat analysis (n=155) was used. No differences between groups were found. Both groups reported increased self-esteem and self-regulation over time. Compared to the control group, the intervention group was more likely to increase their frequency of coping (p< .05). The amount of home yoga practice predicted an increase in stress scores. Supplemental analyses found the intervention group was more likely to report increasing stress appraisals (p<.01). Coping frequency and stress appraisal scores were not correlated at Time 1 in the intervention group, but were positively correlated at Time 2. The intervention group may have become more aware of feelings associated with stress and generated coping, or may have experienced increasing stress as part of mindfulness training. School-based mindfulness interventions are feasible and may be coordinated by school nurses, but require more investigation. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101714 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | White, Laura S. |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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