Improvement of attention and stress levels in students through a mindfulness intervention program

Abstract

Mindfulness is the quality of being conscious and aware of the present moment harmonizing mind and body. This study presents a six-week intervention program carried out in four educational establishments in Granada with 5^th and 6^th grade primary school students and 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year secondary school students. The aim was to find out whether Mindfulness has positive effects in terms of improving students’ attention and reducing stress. The samples were 320 students; a quasi-experimental design was used. We collected socio-demographic and family data and carried out a pre-test to measure the attention variable by means of the d2 questionnaire and the stress variable with the Inventory Questionnaire of Childhood Stress. Following the intervention, we carried out a post-test using the same instruments. A mixed linear model was used to study the effects of the Mindfulness program. The results show that applying a Mindfulness program improves attention and reduces stress in these students, with differences by sex, school- and ages.