An integrated mindfulness and physical exercise intervention: Evaluating the effects on school staff

This programme of work was designed to develop, implement and execute a granular evaluation of a workplace intervention delivered in the school context. The intervention taught mindfulness skills applied to cardiovascular physical exercise. A multiphase, mixed-methods, process and effect evaluation of an integrated Mindfulness Based Physical Exercise (MBPE) intervention was carried out in three schools. To trial intervention-fit, the two-stage programme started with a feasibility study in a pilot school. Stage one results informed the second study’s intervention design (timing and content of didactic input), and the research and implementation strategy (including revised exclusion criteria, approach to recruitment, and data collection methods). In the second stage the MBPE intervention, consisting of four classes, reflective activities, and home practice, was first delivered to an intervention group (n=14). Participants recorded observations about their experience of combining mindfulness with physical exercise through in-class reflection sheets and weekly journals. Wellbeing and resilience measures were completed pre-intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2) and at follow-up (T3). Process evaluation data were collected throughout. A second, wait-list comparison group (n=10) received a three-week intervention, with similar data collection streams. Group-level quantitative analysis showed significant results for wellbeing, but not for resilience. A person-specific quantitative analysis, used to assess impact across six measures, provided a more granular understanding of effect (three sub-groups emerged, of which two had at least one significant outcome effect). The process evaluation, including the use of template analysis for qualitative data, afforded rich and granular data, which helped to elucidate a positive perception of the intervention, a good fit to the school context, and support for the proposed synergistic benefits and mechanisms for change. This study makes three contributions. First, the research contributes to the small but growing corpus of literature focused on the combination of mindfulness with physical exercise. This study advocates the need for careful integration, proposing a framework of synergistic benefits. Next, the research provides a case study for the design, implementation and evaluation of complex workplace interventions, through a two-stage process evaluation design. This innovative design provides rich data, analysed at group-level, person-centred and person-specific levels, to examine heterogenous differences in how an integrated intervention works, and for whom. Finally, the study contributes to the theory and practice of workplace wellbeing through practical insights offered to improve the MBPE intervention, and to support implementation in both school and the wider workplace context.