TY - JOUR
T1 - Scoping review of yoga in schools
T2 - Mental health and cognitive outcomes in both neurotypical and neurodiverse youth populations
AU - Hart, Niamh
AU - Fawkner, Samantha
AU - Niven, Ailsa
AU - Booth, Josie N.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This scoping review was conducted as part of NH’s PhD research. This PhD is funded by a Principal’s Career Development Scholarship (October 2020), University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The University Scholarship is unrestricted and played no role in the conception, design and reporting of this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/6/8
Y1 - 2022/6/8
N2 - Yoga is used widely as a therapeutic tool for physical and mental well-being. The mindbodyactivity could be an inclusive and cost-effective intervention used within schools to help tacklethe mental health crisis in youth populations. To date, research has focused on mainly neurotypicalyouth populations. However, greater acknowledgement of the impact for neurodiverse youthpopulations is warranted. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review is to understand what is knownabout the relationships between yoga in schools and mental health and cognition in neurotypical andneurodiverse youth populations. Methods: This review followed O’Malley and Arskey’s methodologicalframework. A comprehensive database search using fundamental keywords and index termswas conducted. Screening was carried out in CovidenceTM software. Results: Substantial evidenceto support the use of school-based yoga programmes for the improvement of anxiety, self-concept,resilience, depression, self-esteem, subjective and psychological well-being, executive function, inhibition,working memory, attention and academic performance in neurotypical populations was found.Evidence to support school-based yoga programmes in neurodiverse populations with improvementsin self-concept, subjective well-being, executive function, academic performance and attention wasalso found. Conclusions: The findings support the provision of yoga in schools to improve mentalhealth and cognition whilst also creating clear pathways for future research and school-based yogaintervention development.
AB - Yoga is used widely as a therapeutic tool for physical and mental well-being. The mindbodyactivity could be an inclusive and cost-effective intervention used within schools to help tacklethe mental health crisis in youth populations. To date, research has focused on mainly neurotypicalyouth populations. However, greater acknowledgement of the impact for neurodiverse youthpopulations is warranted. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review is to understand what is knownabout the relationships between yoga in schools and mental health and cognition in neurotypical andneurodiverse youth populations. Methods: This review followed O’Malley and Arskey’s methodologicalframework. A comprehensive database search using fundamental keywords and index termswas conducted. Screening was carried out in CovidenceTM software. Results: Substantial evidenceto support the use of school-based yoga programmes for the improvement of anxiety, self-concept,resilience, depression, self-esteem, subjective and psychological well-being, executive function, inhibition,working memory, attention and academic performance in neurotypical populations was found.Evidence to support school-based yoga programmes in neurodiverse populations with improvementsin self-concept, subjective well-being, executive function, academic performance and attention wasalso found. Conclusions: The findings support the provision of yoga in schools to improve mentalhealth and cognition whilst also creating clear pathways for future research and school-based yogaintervention development.
KW - yoga
KW - schools
KW - physical activity
KW - mental health
KW - cognition
U2 - 10.3390/children9060849
DO - 10.3390/children9060849
M3 - Article
SN - 2227-9067
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 30
JO - Children
JF - Children
IS - 6
M1 - 849
ER -