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Impact of the Happy Classrooms Programme on Psychological Well-being, School Aggression, and Classroom Climate

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Abstract

Objectives

This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of a brief version of the Happy Classrooms Programme in psychological well-being, school aggression, and positive classroom climate. Likewise, this study also aimed to identify which intervention effects could be attributed to the development of mindfulness. Finally, the last target of this study was to evaluate the implementation fidelity and the acceptability of the programme.

Methods

Multiple linear regression and longitudinal mediation analyses were performed with a sample of 524 students (49.8% boys and 50.2% girls) with a mean age of 13.6 years.

Results

Results provided evidence of the efficacy of the intervention in the majority of variables. For Mindfulness, Depressive Symptomatology, Perceived Stress, Competence, Emotional Attention, Identified Regulation, External Regulation, and Amotivation, the intervention proved efficacious only when pre-treatment levels of mindfulness were high, and sometimes also medium. For Self-esteem, Satisfaction with Life, Relatedness, Emotional Repair, Physical Aggression, Relational Aggression, Affiliation, and Teacher Support, intervention effects were irrespective of pre-treatment levels of mindfulness. Mediation analyses found evidence of longitudinal mediation effect of mindfulness on the relation between the intervention and most outcome variables. Implementation data showed that total time implemented by the teachers varied among them and that the programme was not highly acceptable by most students.

Conclusions

Our findings point out that Happy Classrooms Programme  may promote psychological well-being and positive classroom climate, and reduce school aggression in students by increasing mindfulness levels.

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Funding

This research was partially supported by grants from the Fundacion Universitaria Antonio Gargallo and Obra Social Ibercaja (ref. 2013/B005; ref. 2014/B005) and Department of Industry and Innovation, Government of Aragon, Spain (ref. S114).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Campus Ciudad Escolar s/n., 44003, Teruel, Spain

    Andrés S. Lombas, Teresa I. Jiménez, Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas & José Martín-Albo

  2. I.E.S. Santiago Hernández, Zaragoza, Spain

    Ricardo Arguís-Rey

  3. C.E.I.P. Tío Jorge, Zaragoza, Spain

    Silvia Hernández-Paniello

Authors
  1. Andrés S. Lombas
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  2. Teresa I. Jiménez
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  3. Ricardo Arguís-Rey
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  4. Silvia Hernández-Paniello
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  5. Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas
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  6. José Martín-Albo
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Contributions

ASL: designed and executed the study, executed the data analyses, and wrote the paper. TIJ: designed and executed the study, and wrote the paper. RA: trained the teachers to implement the programme in their classroom. SH: trained the teachers to implement the programme in their classroom. SV: collaborated in the writing and editing of the manuscript. JM: designed and executed the study, and assisted with the data analyses. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission and collaborated with the writing of the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrés S. Lombas.

Ethics declarations

Research was conducted in compliance with APA ethical standards. All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Zaragoza institutional review board. The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data. Passive consent was obtained from participants’ parents or guardians.

Conflict of Interest

RA and SH are co-founders of the Happy Classrooms Programme.

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Lombas, A.S., Jiménez, T.I., Arguís-Rey, R. et al. Impact of the Happy Classrooms Programme on Psychological Well-being, School Aggression, and Classroom Climate. Mindfulness 10, 1642–1660 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01132-8

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