Development and evaluation of a booster intervention to increase mindfulness practice in adolescents

Abstract

Background: Mindfulness (MF) interventions might hold some promise in promoting adolescents mental health. However, it is critical that participants continue the practice of MF after the program has finished. To our knowledge, no previous research has examined what predicts continued motivation and practice of MF behaviors after intervention programs. Objectives: Identify motivational predictors of MF practice, develop a theory- and evidence-based booster intervention to increase maintenance of MF practice after a school-based MF intervention, and test the booster’s effectiveness on MF motivation. Methods: The current study is a motivational booster to a school-based, mindfulness intervention called Terve Oppiva Mieli (TOM, a nine-week program with three surveys at baseline, nine weeks, and six months) intended to explore how students’ practice could be increased. Analyzing the first wave (N=310) out of four, predictors of MF practice were identified as targets for the booster intervention. A booster intervention was then designed to be implemented during the last two sessions of the TOM intervention, and evaluated in a within-trial cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) within the third wave (N=323) (Control N=164; Booster N=152) of the TOM cRCT. Results: In the first wave of the TOM intervention trial, only 40% of students reported having practiced MF at home during the past month. Those students who had practiced reported several benefits, including managing stress better (69%), coping better with difficult emotions (77%), sleeping better (79%), and better concentration in class (79%). Descriptive norms were found to be the greatest predictor (B=.121, p=.006) of MF practice. Based on these results, a motivational booster intervention was designed, including behavior change techniques to target descriptive norms and perceived benefits of mindfulness practice. It was embedded in the TOM intervention. In the cRCT, the booster intervention had no statistically significant effects on determinants of MF ...