Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38092836›Full record

Trial reportScientific reports2023

Daily breath-based mindfulness exercises in a randomized controlled trial improve primary school children's performance in arithmetic.

Katharina Voltmer, Finja Hondrich, Maria von Salisch

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Katharina VoltmerInstitute for Sustainability Education and Psychology, Leuphana University Luneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7660-6736
Finja HondrichInstitute for Sustainability Education and Psychology, Leuphana University Luneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany.
Maria von SalischInstitute for Sustainability Education and Psychology, Leuphana University Luneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany. Maria.vonsalisch@leuphana.de.ORCID 0000-0002-6800-3596

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to improve children's academic achievements. Because MBIs include different exercises (possibly with differential effects), the teacher-led Breathing Break Intervention (BBI) was developed which focuses exclusively on breathing exercises and body awareness. The short daily breathing practices of BBI were evaluated in terms of their effects on children's performance in mathematics. In a randomized controlled trial, N = 140 third and fourth graders (49% female) either received BBI (IG, n = 81) or participated in an active control group (ACG, n = 59). Students took a standardized arithmetic test and teachers rated their mathematics performance before (T1) and after (T2) the nine weeks of BBI, and in a follow-up five months later (T3). A mixed multilevel model with a quadratic term of time indicated a significant interaction effect between group and time on the arithmetic test after controlling for working memory updating and parental educational attainment. IG children did not show a steeper linear increase but differed significantly from ACG children in their trajectory of arithmetic performance. At T3, IG children outperformed ACG children. A multilevel ordinal logistic regression of teachers' ratings of students' mathematics performance revealed no significant differences between IG and ACG. Results suggest that daily breathing exercises in primary school classrooms contribute to enhancing children's performance in arithmetic.Preregistration: The study was preregistered at aspredicted.org (#44925).

Indexed as

MindfulnessChildEducational StatusFemaleHumansMaleMathematicsSchoolsStudents

Identifiers

PMID38092836
PMCPMC10719295

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.