Historical results for school-based mindfulness programs originally appeared promising, but recent large-scale school-based interventions in Great Britain and Denmark have failed to demonstrate significant mental health benefits. The reason for these underperforming outcomes remains unclear: were these programs poorly designed or implemented, are mandatory programs for general student populations inherently ineffective, or are non-clinical populations simply less responsive to mindfulness training?

Volanen et al. [Psychology in Schools] examined the effectiveness of a school-based mindfulness program, closely aligned with the British and Danish interventions, in reducing stress and promoting self-kindness among middle school students.

The researchers enlisted 56 schools in southern Finland for the study, randomly selecting several classes within each school to one of three conditions: receiving a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), a relaxation intervention, or no treatment. A total of 210 classes participated, comprising over 3,500 sixth- through eighth-grade students (51% girls).

The MBI closely resembled the programs used in the prior British and Danish school-based studies. It consisted of nine weekly 45-minute sessions accompanied by brief (3-15 minute) daily homework exercises. Classroom lessons focused on understanding mindfulness, anchoring attention in the body, recognizing worry, responding rather than reacting, practicing mindful movement, relating to thoughts, and managing difficult emotions. The relaxation program was matched in frequency and duration, emphasizing progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, and visualization. 

Students were assessed on self-reported stress symptoms and self-kindness at baseline, post-intervention, and 26-week follow-up. Stress was measured using a 20-item self-rated perceived stress scale, and self-kindness was measured using the Self-Kindness subscale of Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale. At follow-up, students also reported how frequently they continued mindfulness practice on their own after intervention completion.

The results showed that the MBI group had significantly lowered average perceived stress scores compared to the relaxation group immediately after the intervention (d=-0.29) and at 26-week follow-up (d=-0.28). There were no group differences in stress between MBI and no-treatment participants. There were no group differences in self-kindness.

Findings from this large trial of over 200 school classes suggest a slight reduction in average perceived stress associated with a nine-week MBI training program compared to a relaxation program. The no-treatment control group was much smaller than the active groups, which may have reduced statistical power to detect group contrasts. Moreover, baseline stress levels were low, perhaps leaving little room for measurable improvement by self-report.

A key difference between this study and the British and Danish trials is that its primary outcome was perceived stress rather than mental health or well-being. School-based mindfulness programs may therefore be more effective at reducing stress than at improving overall mental health.

Nonetheless, this represents the third large-scale study to show only modest benefits for students participating in universal, school-based mindfulness classes. It remains possible that mindfulness interventions are more effective when individuals voluntarily seek them out to address personal challenges, rather than when they are delivered as compulsory classroom activities.

Reference:

Volanen, S.-M., Holopainen, M., Lahti, J., Vahlberg, T., & Hintsanen, M. (2025). The Healthy Learning Mind Project: Does a Universal Mindfulness Programme Reduce Stress Symptoms and Increase Self-Kindness Among Adolescents in Schools? Psychology in the Schools.

Link to study