Prevention Research Center
2009 Retreat
Mindfulness Presentations
Definitions of Mindfulness
• Mindfulness is: paying attention, in a particular
way, on purpose, in the present moment,
non-judgmentally. --Kabat-Zinn,1990
• Open-hearted, moment-to-moment, non-judgmental
awareness
--Kabat-Zinn, 2005
2
What is Interpersonal Mindfulness?
(Teachers/Parents – Duncan, Coatsworth, Jennings, Greenberg)
• Listening with full attention to children and colleagues
• Present-centered awareness of emotions experienced by self and
students during interactions
• Openness and non-judgmental acceptance and receptivity to
child’s thoughts and feelings
• Self-regulation in teaching - Low reactivity and
automaticity in
reaction to normative child and adolescent behavior
• Awareness of and responsiveness to students’ individual needs –
“teachable moments”
• Compassion for self and students
3
Are Mindfulness and Practices the
Same Thing?
Mindfulness
Practices
Meditation
Yoga
Martial Arts
Service Learning
Three Components of Change?
Practices
Dharma
World View
Sangha
Community
Measuring Mindfulness
•
•
•
•
•
•
Self-report
Observations
Hypothetical Vignettes
Psycho-physiological Reactivity and Regulation
Immunological Function
Neural Activity
1997
2000
2001-2003
Cultivating
Emotional
Balance
Mind
&Life
Invite
M & Life
Destructive
Emotions
Doug C
arrives
Tibetan
Teacher
Training
in India
Mark& Doug
start
thinking!!
Larrisa arrives
and now 3
think
2004-2005
Tish Jennings.
joins CEB
Project
Garrison
Institute
Discussion
and Mapping
Report
2006
Tish Hired
to Run
Garrison
Program
Mark
Chairs
Garrison
Board
Mark keeps saying to M & L
what about Education
HHDL says Yes! Education!!
Christa,
Elaine, Rob
join the plot
Parenting
Pilot Study
CYFC
Larrisa dissert
on Mindful
Parenting
Tish, Christa,
Richard begin
to develop
CARE
2007
Garrison Adv
Board and
Garrison
Science Meetings
CARE is
piloted
2008
2009
Tish Jennings.
joins Penn
State
Kari joins
Penn State
IES-CARE is
funded
Mind &Life
Education
Research
Network
Begins
Doug Submits
NIDA Grant
Mark joins
with
Travelling
Yogis
Multisite
CARE Study
Submitted
Garrison
CYFCInstitute
Discussion
CARE
is
and
Mapping
funded
Report
EWC Meeting
with HHDL in DC
Tamar
Mendelson joins
the team
Yoga is funded
Mindful
Parenting
Papers
First Yoga
Study in
Baltimore
2010
NIDA
Parenting
Mindfulness
Starts!!
BREATHE grant
to IES
Yoga Grants
Submitted
NIDA/IES
Mind &Life
Education
Research
Network II
Begins
Cultivating Awareness and
Resilience in Education (CARE)
Tish Jennings & Kari Snowberg
Garrison Institute
Penn State University
Presented at the
PRC Staff Retreat
August 28, 2009
Social & Emotional Demands of
Teaching

Expectations vs. Challenges
The Burnout Cascade
Emotional Exhaustion
De-personalization
Lack of Accomplishment
50% leave within first 5 years of teaching (NEA, 2006)
The Prosocial Classroom:
A Model of Teacher Social and Emotional Competence and Classroom and
Child Outcomes
Healthy
Teacher/Student
Relationships
Teachers’ Social &
Emotional
Competence
Effective
classroom
management
skills
Healthy
Classroom
Climate
Student
Social, emotional
& academic
outcomes
Effective SEL
implementation
School/Community Context Factors
Jennings & Greenberg, 2009
Mindful Teaching







Listening with full attention to children and
colleagues
Present-centered awareness of emotions
experienced by self and students during interactions
Openness and non-judgmental acceptance of
and receptivity to child’s thoughts and emotions
Self-regulation in teaching - low reactivity and
low automaticity in reaction to normative child and
adolescent behavior
Compassion for self and students
Awareness of “teachable moments”
Awareness of environment (e.g. Kunin’s
“withitness”)
CARE Training
2 days separated by 1 month of application and
coaching by phone
 Sustainability plan

How CARE Supports Teachers’ SEC
Selfmanagement
Relationship
skills
Emotional
knowledge
Selfawareness
Mindfulness
School/Community Support
Socialawareness
Responsible
decisionmaking
Compassion
Emotional Knowledge




Introduction to emotions, purpose, universal
expressions, relevant brain research
How emotions affect teaching and learning
Didactic information about emotions
including physiology, facial expression,
cognitive and behavioral responses
Exploring individual differences in emotional
expression (emotional profile, triggers &
scripts)
Mindfulness










Setting intention
Body awareness practice
Basic breath awareness practice
Exploring bodily awareness of emotions
Using mindful awareness and reflection to recognize
and manage strong emotions
Standing - centering
Walking
Simple interactions
“Stage” activity (practicing mindful presence in front
of group)
Role plays to practice mindfulness in context of a
challenging social interaction
Compassion
Reflection on feeling loved or cared for
 Caring practice – guided reflection
focused on caring for self, loved one,
colleague, challenging person
 Deep listening – accessing “felt sense”
 Deep listening with poetry
 Deep listening partner practice, one
person talks from “felt sense,” partner
listens with presence and acceptance

Research

IES Goal 2 Project to complete development
and piloting of CARE
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦

Feasibility
Sustainability
Attractiveness to teachers
Preliminary assessment of effectiveness
Pilot RCT
Sample:
◦ Harrisburg elementary teachers
◦ PSU student teachers and their mentors
Research – Year 1

Harrisburg
◦ Fall & Spring programs
◦ Pre-post self-report
◦ Focus groups

State College (pilot RCT)
◦ Spring & Summer programs
◦ Pre-post self-report & CLASS
◦ Focus groups
Research – Year 2

Harrisburg (pilot RCT)
◦ One Spring program
◦ Pre-post self-report & CLASS
◦ Focus groups

State College (pilot RCT)
◦ Spring & Summer programs
◦ Pre-post self-report & CLASS
◦ Focus groups
Measures











PANAS
Problems in Schools Questionnaire
CESD
Interpersonal Mindfulness in Teaching
Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy
5-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire
Time Urgency Scale
Social and Emotional Learning Scale for Teachers
Maslach Burnout Inventory
Daily Physical Symptoms
Stressful Occurances
CLASS Observational Measure

10 items- 3 Factors:
◦ Emotional
 2 climate items (Positive & Negative)
 Teacher sensitivity
 Regard for student perspectives
◦ Management
 Behavior management
 Productivity
 Instructional learning formats
◦ Instructional
 Concept development
 Quality of feedback
 Language modeling
Future Directions

Study value added for school-based intervention programs
such as PATHS on student, teacher, and classroom
outcomes
No CARE
CARE
No PATHS
Control
CARE only
PATHS
PATHS only
CARE & PATHS
Doug Coatsworth
Larissa Duncan
Mark Greenberg
Rob Nix
Elaine Berrena
Christa Turksma
Mark Feinberg
Virginia Molgaard
Mindful Parenting
Turning an idea and model
Mindful
Parenting
1
.60
Non-Judge
Emot Aware
1
1.1
7
1
.68
.78
Attention
1
.83
Non-React
1
.88
1
IEM-P
4
IEM-P
7
IEM-P
3
IEM-P
6
IEM-P
1
IEM-P
9
IEM-P
2
IEM-P
8
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
…into an intervention
2
How did we think we could do
this this?
 Adapt an EXISTING PROGRAM by
adding Mindfulness principles and
activities
 Selected: The Strengthening Families
Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14
 Outstanding Effects
 Mindfulness easily (??) integrated
3
Three Steps:
1. Theoretical model
2. Feasibility Study
3. Pilot RCT Study
4
Theoretical Model of
Mindfulness in Parenting
 Mindfulness – contextualized for
parenting situations
 Intrapersonal and Interpersonal
5 Core elements
5
Theoretical Model of
Mindfulness in Parenting
Listening with Full Attention
 Paying attention in the present
moment -- Mindful Speech
 Emotional Awareness of Self
and Child
 Recognize & label emotions -subtle
6
Theoretical Model of
Mindfulness in Parenting
 Nonjudgmental Acceptance of
Child and Self
 Open and Accepting attitude
rather than judgment and harsh
negative attributions
 Self Regulation in parenting
 Awareness -> breath -> calm
7
Theoretical Model of
Mindfulness in Parenting
 Compassion for self and child
 replace harsh negative judgments
with compassion
Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009).
A model of mindful parenting: Implications for parentchild relationships and prevention research. Clinical Child
and Family Psychology Review, 12, 255-270.
8
Feasibility Study
 Research Questions:
 Can we modify intervention and
implement it?
 Is it acceptable to Central PA
parents?
 Do parents think it is helpful?
 1 Intervention Group (5 families)
 Bellefonte Area Middle School
9
Feasibility Study
 Wrote new activities
 Guided meditations
 Didactic re: Mindfulness
 Interactive activities
 Parents rated activities after each
session
 End of program focus group
10
Feasibility Study
 Parents engaged
 Liked Mindful activities
 Wanted mindful activities to be longer
 Guided meditations = distracting
 Overall – activities needed to be
shortened
11
Feasibility Study
 Parents felt new activities were very
helpful
“I really find myself stopping and thinking about situations
all the time, especially when they might be difficult…or an
argument might be about to start. “
Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009).
Pilot study to gauge acceptability of a mindfulness-based,
family-focused preventive intervention. Journal of Primary
Prevention, 30, 605-618.
12
Revisions
 Workgroup on revising activities, with
Virginia Molgaard
 Wrote NEW MINDFULNESS Activities–
Reviewed EVERY SFP activity
 Average of 2 NEW activities per session



Short REFLECTION ACTIVITIES (start and end)
New Didactic/Interactive Activities
Modified SFP language to highlight being
“mindful”

Attention, Emotions, Expectations, Judgments,
Patience, Compassion….
13
Pilot trial -- Research Design
 Partnered with CTC and ongoing implementation
of SFP.
 65 Families Recruited + Assigned + Assessed at
Baseline
 Recruited from Bellefonte, Bald Eagle , Penns
Valley
 Stratified by town and randomly assigned to:
 SFP:10-14 (N= 23)
 MSFP
(N= 25)
 Delayed Intervention Control (N=17)
 Assessed immediate Pre and Post -intervention
14
Mindfulness Activity
15
Results
 Significant changes in mindful
parenting – medium effect size (~.63)
 Generally comparable effects between
SFP and MSFP on Child Management
Variables (monitoring, Rules
Communication)
 Discipline Consistency
16
Results
 Substantial effects on relationship
quality and affective quality variables
 Anger Management
 Emotional parenting (affective
attunement)
 More positive and less negative
 Perceived youth as more positive and
less negative
17
Results
 Indirect effects – Changes in mindful
parenting associated with changes in:
 Anger Management
 Mother’s positive affect/behavior (m)
 Mother’s negative affect/behavior (m)
 Youths positive affect/behavior (m & y)
 Youth’s negative affect/behavior (m & y)
18
What parents said they learned
“it was nice to be able to find positive things to think about
him. …this was making us find positives, which, was a good
thing because we do love them….”
“What I learned most from this class [is] to really really
listen… kind of just slow down and listen and treat your
kid like a person and not......a robot”
“don’t react right away. Stop and try to figure out where he
is coming from with this. You know and try not to flip out.
Don’t overreact. “
19
"I think if I had to sum up what I
got out of this I would say, it’s
made me more conscious of my
parenting…"
Coatsworth, J. D., Duncan, L. G., Greenberg, M. T., & Nix,
R. L. (in press) Changing parents’ mindfulness, child
management skills, and relationship quality with their
youth: Results from a randomized pilot intervention
trial. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
20
New Project
 Randomized Clinical Trial
 N = 600 families
 3 conditions



SFP
Mindfulness-enhanced SFP
Control
 Sites




State College
Lewistown
Huntingdon
Lower Dauphin/Susquahanna
21
Acknowledgements
 Parent Facilitators: Elaine Barrena, Christa Turksma,




Sandy Stewart
Youth Facilitators: Brian Hutchinson, Rebecca CorumWeaver, Amy Syvertsen, Becky Derousie, Melissa Lippold,
Spring Cooper, Chris Fortunato, Sarah Meyer
Staff: Ashley Barr, Nicole Gredja, Nicole Weigl, Jessie
Connell, Ana Taffel, Whitney Maurer, Joche Gayles
Centre County Communities That Care
Working Group: Rob Nix, Jose Policarpo, Virginia
Molgaard
Funding: Penn State University Children Youth and Families Consortium
Pennsylvania Department of Delinquency Prevention ,
Prevention Research Center
22
The End
23