Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, 2600 College St., Sherbrooke, Quebec J1M 1Z7, Canada.
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 20;107:110260. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110260. Epub 2021 Jan 22.
Preliminary evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on children's mental health. Given these problems can have significant impacts throughout the lifespan, preventing the negative repercussions of COVID-19 on children's mental health is essential. Philosophy for children (P4C) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) show promise in this regard.
The goal of the present study was to compare the impact of online MBI and P4C interventions on mental health, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used a randomized cluster trial to assess and compare the impact of both interventions on elementary school students' (N = 37) anxiety and inattention symptoms as well as on their basic psychological need satisfaction (BPN).
ANCOVAs revealed a significant effect of the P4C intervention on mental health difficulties, controlling for baseline levels. Participants in the P4C group showed lower scores on the measured symptoms at post-test than participants in the MBI group. Significant effects of the MBI on levels of BPN were also found. Participants in the MBI intervention reported greater BPN satisfaction at post-test than participants in the P4C intervention.
Results from this study suggest that, in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a P4C intervention centered around COVID-19 related themes may be helpful to reduce mental health difficulties, that a MBI may be useful to satisfy BPN, and that both interventions were easy to offer online to elementary school students. Future work including a larger sample size and follow-up measures is warranted.
Practice: Philosophy for children (P4C) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can be used to foster mental health in elementary school students, in the current COVID-19 context. Policy: As we do not anticipate that facilitators will be allowed in schools during the 2020-2021 school year and that children will, most likely, be attending school in the current COVID-19 context, policymakers who want to implement psychological support measures in elementary schools should consider an online modality, which has shown in this study to work well, be feasible, and yield positive results on youth mental health.
初步证据表明，新冠疫情对儿童心理健康产生了负面影响。鉴于这些问题可能会对整个生命周期产生重大影响，因此必须预防新冠疫情对儿童心理健康的负面影响。儿童哲学（P4C）和正念干预（MBI）在这方面显示出了一定的前景。
本研究旨在比较在线 MBI 和 P4C 干预对新冠疫情背景下儿童心理健康的影响。我们采用随机群组试验来评估和比较这两种干预措施对小学生（N=37）焦虑和注意力不集中症状以及基本心理需求满足（BPN）的影响。
方差分析（ANCOVA）表明，在控制基线水平的情况下，P4C 干预对心理健康困难有显著影响。与 MBI 组相比，P4C 组的参与者在测试后心理健康困难症状得分较低。MBI 对 BPN 水平也有显著影响。与 P4C 组相比，MBI 组的参与者报告了更高的 BPN 满意度。
本研究结果表明，在当前新冠疫情背景下，以新冠疫情相关主题为中心的 P4C 干预可能有助于减轻心理健康困难，MBI 可能有助于满足 BPN，而且这两种干预措施都很容易在网上提供给小学生。未来的研究需要包括更大的样本量和随访措施。
在当前的新冠疫情背景下，儿童哲学（P4C）和正念干预（MBI）可用于促进小学生的心理健康。政策意义：由于我们预计在 2020-2021 学年期间不会允许辅导员进入学校，并且儿童很可能在当前的新冠疫情背景下上学，因此希望在小学实施心理支持措施的政策制定者应该考虑在线模式，本研究表明该模式在小学生心理健康方面效果良好、可行且能产生积极结果。
