Mindfulness na ansiedade de adolescentes em escola do município de Eusébio- Ceará

Abstract

Mindfulness is a practice that aims to cultivate a sense of presence and is characterized as a comprehensive practice that can be applied, for example, in schools. The school environment is considered an opportune setting for promoting the physical and mental well-being of children and adolescents. The research question is: “What is the impact of a regular mindfulness program on anxiety symptoms in elementary school students?”. The present study aims to analyze the effects of mindfulness intervention on anxiety in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years in the school context. In addition, it aims to identify the sociodemographic profile of the adolescents participating in the study and to provide training and standardization for the meditation teachers who will apply the practices. This is a quasi-experimental descriptive quantitative study. The research took place in a school in the municipality of Eusébio, which was selected by lottery. After defining the school, participants were selected according to the inclusion criteria: healthy adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who participated in the activities with an attendance rate of 80% or more during the study period. The exclusion criteria were: history of any disease that would prevent them from performing the proposed interventions. The meditation sessions were conducted in groups, lasting two months, twice a week. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) model was adopted to construct this proposed protocol. The sociodemographic aspects of the participants were collected, in addition to the application of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS). To measure anxiety levels, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAI-C) was used, which consists of two scales, the STAI-state and STAIC-trait. The scales were applied to participants at the beginning, before starting the activities, and immediately after the end of the 8 weeks of practice. The results showed a significant reduction in total anxiety scores after the intervention (mean difference = −1.22; p = 0.0039), with emphasis on items related to fear, confusion, and emotional disturbance. Therefore, regular mindfulness practice provided measurable benefits in adolescents' anxiety levels, validating the effects of the intervention.