Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Efficiency in Enhancing Resilience and Well-being of Military Children
Author(s): Y K Nagle, A Gowtham, Anam Masood and Kalpana Rani
The Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a well-known intervention programme that has proven to be efficient in management
of emotional and psychological problems through active, purposive and non-judgemental awareness of experiences. The present study aims to
evaluate relative efficiency of MBCT in improving resilience and well-being of children of deployed military soldiers. The sample of the study
comprised of N=88 students (44 males and females each) from Army school of Central India. The age range of participants was 14-17 years. Using
non-randomized control group pre-test post-test design, after pre-test, the participants were randomly assigned to two equal groups (44 participants
each) comprising of equal number of boys and girls. The Experimental Group (Mage=15.14, SD=1.11) received MBCT sessions for 8 weeks
while the Control Group (Mage=15, SD=.96) in parallel, received weekly Psycho-education sessions. The post-assessment was conducted on n=38
Experimental group and n=35 Control group participants respectively. Post-test results showed a greater improvement in resilience and well-being
of Experimental group participants as compared to the Control group. The improvement was observed to be specific to those participants with initial
pre-test scores falling below 75th percentile. The magnitude of this effect was found to be significant. The findings support that MBCT is effective
in improving stress tolerance and coping and can lead to an improved overall functioning of military children. The findings can prove to be helpful
for effective management of academic and non-academic stress and enhancement of the quality of remedial programmes.
Will be updated soon