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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 Oct 6;11(1):19876.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98608-2.

The effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on executive, behavioural and socio-emotional competencies in very preterm young adolescents

Vanessa Siffredi #  1   2   3 , Maria Chiara Liverani #  4   5 , Petra Susan Hüppi  4 , Lorena G A Freitas  4   6   7 , Jiske De Albuquerque  4 , Fanny Gimbert  5   8 , Arnaud Merglen  9 , Djalel Eddine Meskaldji  4   10 , Cristina Borradori Tolsa  4 , Russia Hà-Vinh Leuchter  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on executive, behavioural and socio-emotional competencies in very preterm young adolescents

Vanessa Siffredi et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Very preterm (VPT) children and adolescents show executive, behavioural and socio-emotional difficulties that persists into adulthood. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) in improving these competencies in VPT young adolescents using a randomised controlled trial design. 56 young adolescents aged 10-14 years, born before 32 gestational weeks, were randomly assigned to an "intervention" or a "waiting" group and completed an 8-week MBI in a cross-over design. Executive, behavioural and socio-emotional competencies were assessed at three different time points via parent and self-reported questionnaires, neuropsychological testing and computerised tasks. The data were analysed using an intention-to-treat approach with linear regression modelling. Our findings show a beneficial effect of MBI on executive, behavioural and socio-emotional competencies in VPT young adolescents measured by parent questionnaires. Increased executive competencies were also observed on computerised task with enhanced speed of processing after MBI. Two subgroups of participants were created based on measures of prematurity, which revealed increased long-term benefits in the moderate-risk that were not observed in the high-risk subgroups of VPT young adolescents. MBI seems a valuable tool for reducing detrimental consequences of prematurity in young adolescents, especially regarding executive, behavioural and socio-emotional difficulties.Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials, NCT04638101. Registered 20 November 2020-Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT04638101 .

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plots showing the distribution of the delta scores (Δ) of the “Treatment as usual”, “MBI” and “Long-term” groups of the significant planned contrasts only. Lines in the violin plots represent the means for each group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of the delta scores (Δ) of the “Treatment as usual”, “MBI” and “Long-term” groups for the significant planned contrasts for the two subgroups of VPT: moderate-risk and high-risk. Lines in the violin plots represent the means for each group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CONSORT flow diagram of the present cross-over RCT design.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Illustration of the RCT study design. Participants enrolled in the RCT design were randomised in two groups: the intervention group (IG) in blue and the waiting group (WG) in orange.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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