Making Mindfulness Matter: Exploring the Feasibility and Co-regulation Outcomes of an Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person services were transitioned to virtual platforms in line with public health recommendations. There was a pressing need for mental health interventions to continue servicing vulnerable populations as the mental and emotional demands of the pandemic weighed heavily on families. As a result, a community-based, concurrent parent-child mindfulness program, Making Mindfulness Matter (M3©) was adapted for online delivery (M3 Live Online©). Using neuroscience and positive psychology concepts, the M3 Live Online© program aims to foster more effective parenting practices, and support both parental and child well-being. This dissertation, consisting of two studies, sought to address the gap in available literature on online concurrent family mindfulness-based interventions, with respect to their feasibility (i.e., acceptability) and outcomes. Study one explored parent and facilitator perspectives to determine if the adaptation from in-person to virtual delivery was acceptable. Study two examined the process of co-regulation between parents and children following engagement with mindful awareness and social-emotional concepts, activities, and skills taught in the program. Results from Study one suggest that the adaptation was deemed acceptable by parent participants and facilitators of the intervention. In Study Two, increased parental behaviours related to co-regulation (such as emotion and affection, empathy and understanding, play and enjoyment, and self-acceptance) were observed after participating in the program. Parents also indicated that the program enhanced parental knowledge of their child’s development. Taken together, the M3 Live Online© program is an acceptable alternative to in-person programming and enriches the co-regulatory behaviours of parents.