Efficacy of an Online Course to Build Mindfulness in Adolescents

Abstract

Mindfulness intentionally focuses and sustains attention on immediate experience and adopts a curious, open, and accepting orientation towards that experience (Kabat-Zinn, 2005). Increasing research shows that students equipped with mindfulness can demonstrate higher levels of attention, awareness, obtain higher test scores, and report lower stress levels. This paper explores digital activities to build mindfulness in an online course on global citizenship administered to adolescents between 12-14 years. A total of 68 students from India took the course over twelve weeks. A pre-post paired t-test revealed a significant increase in the overall score of mindfulness (p < 0.05) as measured by the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Additionally, significant increases were seen on the subscales of “observing” (p < 0.05), “describing” (p < 0.05) and “non-judging” (p < 0.05) facets of mindfulness. Thematic analysis of the open-ended responses supported the findings from the pre-post.