Is a schools-based 8-week mindfulness programme more effective for younger versus older adolescents?

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An initial RCT undertaken by us in 2014 (N = 308) and a follow-up RCT undertaken in 2015-2016 (N = 557) investigated mindfulness with Year 8 students in Adelaide schools. We used a UK based 9-week mindfulness curriculum with lessons once per week (40-60 minutes). Surprisingly, we were unable to replicate promising findings from a controlled (but not randomised) trial using this programme (Kuyken et al., 2013) which found improvements in wellbeing, stress and depression that lasted for 3 months following the intervention. Our pilot trial has been published (Johnson, Burke, Brinkman and Wade, 2016) and the larger follow-up trial is currently under review. We hypothesised that the programme might have been too brief for the ideas to sink in, and that there might not have been enough practice in class of the meditations, relying too much on home practice (which was invitational). We also wondered if Year 8s might be too young to appreciate the relevance of these emotional tools given that they hadn't yet hit some of the increased stresses and strains of mid-late adolescence. Therefore, we are testing these ideas in the current RCT We will substitute an alternative, Belgian programme, which recently found both treatment and prevention effects for depression which lasted for 6 months in adolescents aged 13-20 in a school setting (Raes et al., 2014). This programme, which has just been translated into English, runs for a similar number of weeks (8) but has longer lessons (75-100 minutes weekly) allowing more time for guided practice in class (rather than relying on home practice), plus expanded opportunities for discussion and application to real-life scenarios. We will test this across three age groups (Year 8, mean age 13.5;Year 10, mean age 15.5; Year 12, mean age 17.5) to expand our investigation into whether the mindfulness approach operates differently within adolescent age bands. This will have direct relevance for where to insert these curricula in the school journey for maximum effect. Research Objectives 1. To examine the efficacy of an alternative curriculum (Mindfulness for Teens) on anxiety, depression, eating disorder risk factors, wellbeing and different facets of mindfulness 2. To investigate whether age affects these outcomes (i.e., are mindfulness programmes more effective at certain ages during adolescence?) 3. To investigate whether mindfulness programmes operate via different mechanisms according to stage of neurocognitive development (i.e., do we need to emphasise different components at different ages?)

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