Investigating the potential of contemplative practice programmes in supporting mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents

Supervisor: Dr Dusana Dorjee

A) Rationale for the project

Implementation and research on contemplative practice-based programmes cultivating qualities such as mindfulness, acceptance, self-compassion etc. in education greatly expanded over the last decade. There is growing evidence suggesting that such programmes may enhance cognitive abilities (Sanger & Dorjee, 2016) and reduce anxiety, depression and stress symptoms in children and adolescents (Dunning et al., 2019). However, it is not clear if such benefits are maintained longer-term beyond the completion of the programmes, impacting on developmental wellbeing trajectories of young people. In addition, majority of previous research examined the effects of mindfulness-based programmes only; the available evidence on the effects of programmes cultivating not only mindfulness but also explicitly training in kindness, compassion and/or cultivating a sense of purpose and meaning in life is very limited. The potential of contemplative practices in contributing to education has also not been harnessed in the context of religious education where such practices could help revitalise the subject by inclusion of innovative experiential, rather than mostly conceptual, learning about a variety of contemplative and religious traditions.

B) References that should be read

Dorjee, D. (2016). Defining contemplative science: The metacognitive self-regulatory capacity of the mind, context of meditation practice and modes of existential awareness. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1788.

Dorjee, D. (2017). Psychology and Neuroscience of Meditation in Everyday Life. London, UK: Routledge. (Chapter 1)

Dorjee, D. (2018, September 5). Schools need to teach pupils skills to maintain good mental health – here’s how. The Conversation.

Dunning, D. L., Griffiths, K., Kuyken, W., Crane, C., Foulkes, L., Parker, J., & Dalgleish, T. (2019). Research Review: The effects of mindfulness‐based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents–a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(3), 244-258.

C) Research aims / questions

The aim of this project is to contribute to the understanding of the full potential contemplative practices hold in the context of education. Specifically, the project can focus on any of the following three topics: (1) long-term effects of contemplative practice programmes on mental health and wellbeing of pupils (cross-sectional or sequential study following up on the finding of previous studies), (2) effects of programmes cultivating kindness, compassion and other health qualities of mind in addition to mindfulness, (3) potential of experiential contemplative practices in innovating and revitalising teaching and learning in religious education. The PhD student can choose, in discussion with the supervisor, the particular child or adolescent age-group she/he would like to work with in the project. The study can also involve an intervention element, for example as part of religious education, if there will be scope.

D) Methods

Based on the topic, the project will apply cross-sectional, sequential or longitudinal design. In addition, the project will use one or two of the following methods – experience sampling, EEG/ERP methods, HRV assessments or innovative qualitative assessments in which children/adolescents self-interpret their narratives. The final selection of the methods will be decided in discussion with the supervisor and will also depend on the PhD student’s research training and experience. It is expected that the PhD student will have strong quantitative research skills.