Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Apr 2024)
Mindfulness Through Storytelling for Mental Health of Primary School Children: Impact on Acceptability and Its Associations with Personality
Abstract
Alessio Matiz,1,2 Franco Fabbro,3 Cristiano Crescentini1,3 1Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy; 2Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; 3Institute of Mechanical Intelligence, School of Advanced Studies Sant’Anna, Pisa, ItalyCorrespondence: Alessio Matiz, via Margreth, 3, Udine, 33100, Italy, Tel +39 0432 249893, Email [email protected]: Acceptability of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) in primary school settings seems to represent a critical factor influencing the intervention effects on children’s mental health. This study aims at assessing the acceptability of an MBP delivered through the technique of storytelling, as well as identifying which participants’ personality characteristics can influence it.Participants and Methods: Italian children in grades 3-to-5 (n = 147, 47.6% girls) participated in a 24-session MBP, which included 225 minutes of formal mindfulness practices and was delivered by the pupils’ school teachers. Children’s personality traits were assessed with the junior Temperament and Character Inventory (jTCI), while their subjective experiences and acceptability of the program were investigated using a survey containing open-ended and closed-ended questions.Results: Program acceptability was 2.9 ± 0.7 on a 0– 4 scale. Higher jTCI scores of persistence, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence were related to higher ratings in liking the program, finding it useful and engaging themselves in it. Moreover, 57.8% of the children generalized the mindfulness practices in daily life and 93.9% of them declared they would recommend the program to their friends/parents. Five main themes emerged from children’s answers on what they learned: “help for difficulties (emotional, mental, and physical)”, “calm, relax, tranquility”, “resilience, positiveness, personal growth”, “self-exploration, interoception”, and “attention, concentration, and here-and-now”.Conclusion: Program acceptability was generally higher than in similar programs in the literature, and children reported personal gains in various areas related to psychological well-being. The study also suggests which children’s personality traits should be considered when proposing an MBP in order to improve its acceptability and utility.Keywords: mindfulness training, mental health, children, storytelling, thematic analysis, personality
