The contribution of yoga to children with mental health disabilities: A scoping review

Background: Children with mental health difficulties often experience challenges in motor and physical skills, stress, anxiety and emotional difficulties. Yoga can help these children in engaging in social environments providing physical and motor improvements, emotional regulation, cognitive and behavioural control. Aim: Yoga is an approach that can help children with any occupational challenges and diagnosis. The aim of this scoping review is to explore the contribution of yoga for children with mental health disabilities, to inspire healthcare professionals to determine whether to promote yoga as a beneficial intervention for children with special needs and highlight a beneficial outcome in implementing yoga that can help the parents, caregivers and the children to fulfill their needs. Methodology: A scoping review of the existing literature was conducted based on databases such as AMED, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete and Google scholar. The studies focusing on the contribution of yoga for children with mental health disabilities were selected by taking into account the inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as the use of PRISMA guidelines. Results: The review of the literature retrieved 11 studies for a time period from 2005 to 2024. The studies reviewed provide convincing evidence that yoga is an accessible and effective intervention for populations that have physical, emotional and cognitive difficulties. Significant improvements were highlighted in motor skills, emotional regulation, cognitive and behavioural control. It is also underlined that yoga can be an essential part of therapeutic programs for children with intellectual disabilities. However, the variety in physical outcomes, specifically for children with cerebral palsy that have physical challenges, highlights the need for additional supporting interventions. Conclusions: The 11 articles reviewed had generally showed that yoga is an effective intervention for children with mental health difficulties. The combination of physical movements, mindfulness and breathing are perfectly suited for multidimensional challenges for children with mental health disabilities. Yoga’s effectiveness in a diversity of populations for children with autism, ADHD, children with psychiatric issues show that yoga can be acceptable and has a broad potential as therapy for these children.