Mindfulness's moderating role applied on online SEL education

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Education
• Music Therapy

Background:

• College students frequently experience mild to moderate depression, anxiety, and stress, impacting social-emotional skills.
• Existing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs lack focus on teacher-student interactions for emotionally challenged students.
• Timely intervention is crucial to prevent escalation of emotional issues in students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the emotional changes in college students after participating in a mindfulness and rhythmic music SEL curriculum.
• To explore the effectiveness of integrating mindfulness with music rhythm for emotional well-being.
• To provide insights for improving teacher-student interactions in SEL programs.

Main Methods:

• A pre-post experimental design was used with 294 firefighting university students.
• Participants completed a one-semester online mindfulness and music rhythm SEL course.
• Anxiety, depression, and stress were measured using standardized scales; self-reflection reports explored emotional transformations.

Main Results:

• Specific rhythmic music (eighth, quarter, sixteenth notes) significantly improved emotional well-being in students with depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively.
• Emotional improvement positively correlated with academic performance.
• Tailored instructional support based on emotional state and music preference was identified as beneficial.

Conclusions:

• Mindfulness combined with rhythmic music is an effective approach for enhancing emotional regulation in college students.
• Understanding individual student needs, including music preferences and learning styles, is key for effective SEL.
• The findings support the development of targeted interventions to improve student emotional health and teacher-student engagement.