None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Play is a complex and crucial aspect of early physical, social and emotional development. Importantly, evidence suggests that unstructured outdoor play facilitates children’s executive function, increases social skills and physical activity, and reduces childhood obesity, bullying and mental health problems. Opportunities for outdoor unstructured play are increasingly limited putting at risk these benefits. Mindfulness training may help children deal with anxiety and mental-health difficulties, and it has been adopted as a preventive measure in some mainstream primary school settings. While promising, there is no conclusive evidence of the effects of mindfulness-based intervention in children’s psycho-social wellbeing.
Interventions
Unstructured /free/loose parts of play with mindfulness-based intervention will used outdoor play materials e.g. leaves, sand, ropes, sticks, branches, water, boxes
SWELE is a 12-week program focusing on children’s physical, mental and social well-being as they transition from preschool to kindergarten to primary school. The SWELE program consists of daily opportunity to 1) engage in self-directed, loose parts unstructured, active play, us materials provided on the school playground (45-60 minut
Unstructured /free/loose parts of play with mindfulness-based intervention will used outdoor play materials e.g. leaves, sand, ropes, sticks, branches, water, boxes SWELE is a 12-week program focusing on children’s physical, mental and social well-being as they transition from preschool to kindergarten to primary school. The SWELE program consists of daily opportunity to 1) engage in self-directed, loose parts unstructured, active play, us materials provided on the school playground (45-60 minutes); 2) participate in a mindfulness-based intervention with storytelling, art activities on ‘body scan’ and ‘breathing techniques’ (15 minutes). Three-time point measures will assess child's physical health status and physical activity, emotional well-being, social competency, and playfulness. A mental health nurse and trainers deliver mindfulness intervention sessions. The mode of mindfulness-based intervention is story-telling to the whole class after the unstructured play activity. Class attendance log book will be used to assess and monitor adherence of the intervention.
Sponsors
Hong Kong School Nurses Association
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
3 Years to 66 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria for the recruitment of kindergarten children for this study are 1) children aged between 4-7 years old studying in selected kindergartens (K2), and their school teachers, school principals and parents in the kindergarten; 2) children are free from physical impairment and cardiovascular disease based on their school medical records; and 3) children can follow instructions and understand the mindfulness teaching materials as presented by school teachers/school counsellor and parents.
Exclusion criteria
The exclusion criteria are: 1) children aged over 6 and under 4 years old and not studying in either of the kindergartens; 2) children have physical impairment or are diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases according to school medical records; and 3) children have extreme difficulty comprehending, memorising, and visualising the instructions from mindfulness teaching materials.
Outcome results
None listed