Mindfulness in Higher Education: It’s a Win-Win Situation

International Enhancement Themes ConferenceJune 2013

Outline

• Mindfulness: Quick recap• Stress, coping & mental health

– Snippets from my PhD• Community• More than stress reduction• Looking forward

“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and

nonjudgementally”

Kabat-Zinn, J.(1994).Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion Books.

Mindfulness programmes have been shown to be useful for a variety of groups1,2

1Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57, 35-43.2Fjorback, L,O., Arendt, M., Ørnbøl, E., Fink, P., Walach, H. (2011). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy –a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Acta Psychiatr Scand,124,102–119.

Mindfulness for student stress, coping & mental health

Many students minor in...

• High levels of stress, anxiety & depression1,2

• Students more anxious/depressed than peers who don’t attend university3

• Less than 20% of students seek help4

1Bewick, B., Koutsopoluou, G., Miles,J., Slaa, E., & Barkham, M. (2010). Changes in undergraduate students’ psychological well-being as they progress through university. Studies in Higher Education, 36(6), 633-645.2Andrews, B., & Wilding, J. M. (2004). The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students. British Journal of Psychology, 95, 509-521.3Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2003). The mental health of students in higher education. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.4 Blanco, C., Okuda, M., Wright, C., Hasin, D. S., Grant, B. F., Liu, S., et al. (2008). Mental Health of College Students and Their Non-college-attending Peers: Results from a National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(12), 1429-1437.

Prof Harald Walach

Introduction to meditation & mindfulness

Help establish

own practice

of meditatio

n Guided meditations & group discussions around:

learning,

health,

communication, stress

Combine the meditation

skills & insight into thoughts & feelings

Who was interested?

• Mean age: 28 (18 – 62)• Gender

– Female, N=60– Male, N=21

• Programme– Undergraduate, N=58– Postgraduate, N=12

• Anxiety (HADS-A): 9.64 • Depression (HADS-D): 4.64• Perceived stress (PSS): 19.88

Mindfulness Class

Hmmm, my housemate is going…

It’s my final year…I’m so

stressed!

I did something like this at A level, looks interesting.

It might be a good way to meet people.

Results from RWC

• 3 groups– MBCUL led by Harald Walach– MBCUL led by Siobhan Lynch– Control

• Measures– HADS (Anxiety & Depression)– Perceived Stress Scale– Post MBCUL interview

• Interviews by visiting postgraduate student• Thematic analysis

How did they find it?

Group

“Yeah, they were nice and they were

supportive and seemed to have the same kinds of problems as I did, which was really reassuring, because I thought I was the only student with these kinds of problems.”

Enjoyable

“I really, really like the sitting meditation to refresh myself. I do not have many alternatives, living on campus here. So taking a walk in the evening is not really safe, so I just open my window and I sit.”

Challenging

“Only at the very start I found it quite odd that people just sit there.”

“I think initially getting into the mindset of it was quite hard, but I think as the weeks went on and meeting regularly, and one of my friends was there so we talked about it quite a lot, so I think that made it easier.”

Was it useful? Measure N Pre (SD) Post (SD) pHADS-AGroup 1 14 9.46 (3.67) 7.91 (3.21) .02Group 2 12 10.43 (3.63) 7.83 (4.58) .05

Control 10 8.10 (3.03) 10.75 (3.92) .13

HADS-DGroup 1 14 4.36 (2.37) 3.00 (2.49) .01Group 2 12 3.50 (2.41) 3.67 (3.39) .85Control 10 4.70 (2.50) 5.38 (2.72) .46

PSSGroup 1 14 21.62 (6.40) 14.00 (8.54) .03Group 2 12 22.07 (5.47) 16.43 (6.50) .03Control 10 18.60 (5.46) 21.50 (7.37) .27

Breathing space

“I mean, I find myself doing them when I don’t realise that like, they’ve almost become a part of me, like quite natural. So if I’m getting stressed out

I’ll just find myself taking a step back.”

Listening/communication

• “I make sure I listen more to people and actually pay attention rather than drifting off. I feel better having listened properly.”

• I’ve been listening more mindfully to things, like conversations with my parents on the phone. I’ve been actually like engaging in them and having long conversations. And like my dad would normally not talk for long, but this time it was around an hour.”

Academic life

• “ If I’m getting stressed out about an essay I’ll just find myself just sitting there and breathing.”

• “…doing the reading quite mindfully and I found that I could remember.”

• ” …lectures where I find I just switch off after 20 minutes but I went in the next week and I could just concentrate …listening to every word she was saying”.

Reduced Stress & anxiety

Academic• Focus/concentration• Procrastination• Remembering more• *Needed support to make

connections

Social• Listening• Conflict• New friends

Breathing Space

MBCUL Summary

Mindfulness in HE: More than stress reduction

The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui [master of himself] if he have it not.

An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical directions for bringing it about.

William James, 1890, vol. 2, p. 424, original italics

James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology (2 vols.). New York: Henry Holt.

Mindfulness for students

• Students are demanding more from universities

• Mindfulness training for students is more than ‘just’ stress reduction– Reason to believe it will help develop/support:

• Academic work (attention, memory, creativity)• Professional skills (listening, empathy)

Mindfulness for educators?

• Reduced stress, anxiety & depression• Increased compassion – self and students• Less burnout• More job satisfaction• Improved communication with students• Perhaps greater sense of alliance?

May lead to increased student satisfaction/positive feedback on modules/PTES/NSS?

Moving forward

• To date, focus on stress/mental health, move to academic benefits & professional skills training– Happening in schools already

• Low dose training (f-2-f and/or e-learning)• Included in academic skills/health programmes• University student support centres• Coaching• Beyond ‘mindfulness-based’• Mindfulness for Educators

http://mindfulnessforstudents.co.uk/

Thank you!

siobhan.lynch@kcl.ac.uk