Can the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) Program Be Provided Online? Voices from the Youth
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Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Room 2374, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
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Department of Psychology, Bishop’s University, 2600 College Street, Sherbrooke, QC J1M 1Z7, Canada
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Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
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Department of Pediatrics, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
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Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
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Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, British Columbia Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BCV6H 3N1, Canada
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Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, 4480 Oak St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Children 2018, 5(9), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/children5090115
Received: 27 July 2018
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Revised: 23 August 2018
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Accepted: 23 August 2018
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Published: 28 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Implementing Pediatric Integrative Medicine in Practice)
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to improve health and well-being in adolescents with chronic illnesses. Because they are most often delivered in person in a group setting, there are several barriers that limit access to MBIs for youth with limited mobility or who cannot access in-person MBIs in their communities. The objective of this study was to determine if eHealth is a viable platform to increase accessibility to MBIs for teens with chronic illnesses. This study reports the qualitative results of a mixed method randomized trial describing the experience of the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) program, an eight-week MBI, delivered either in person or via eHealth. Participants were adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 with a chronic illness recruited at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Toronto, Canada. Individual semi-structured post-participation audio-video interviews were conducted by a research assistant. A multiple-pass inductive process was used to review interview transcripts and interpret emergent themes from the participants’ lived experiences. Fifteen participants (8 online and 7 in person) completed post-participation interviews. Four distinct themes emerged from participants in both groups: Creation of a safe space, fostering peer support and connection, integration of mindfulness skills into daily life, and improved well-being through the application of mindfulness. Direct quotations representative of those four themes are reported. Results from this study suggest that eHealth delivery of an adapted MBI for adolescents with chronic illnesses may be an acceptable and feasible mode of delivery for MBIs in this population. EHealth should be considered in future studies of MBIs for adolescents with chronic illnesses as a promising avenue to increase access to MBIs for youth who might not be able to access in-person programs.
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Keywords:
qualitative; mindfulness; meditation; chronic illness; adolescents; eHealth
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Chadi, N.; Weisbaum, E.; Malboeuf-Hurtubise, C.; Ahola Kohut, S.; Viner, C.; Kaufman, M.; Locke, J.; Vo, D.X. Can the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) Program Be Provided Online? Voices from the Youth. Children 2018, 5, 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/children5090115
AMA Style
Chadi N, Weisbaum E, Malboeuf-Hurtubise C, Ahola Kohut S, Viner C, Kaufman M, Locke J, Vo DX. Can the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) Program Be Provided Online? Voices from the Youth. Children. 2018; 5(9):115. https://doi.org/10.3390/children5090115
Chicago/Turabian StyleChadi, Nicholas, Elli Weisbaum, Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Sara Ahola Kohut, Christine Viner, Miriam Kaufman, Jake Locke, and Dzung X. Vo. 2018. "Can the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) Program Be Provided Online? Voices from the Youth" Children 5, no. 9: 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/children5090115
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