A breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention reduced anxiety (post-test mean 13.70 vs pre-test 12.81) and stress (post-test 12.90 vs pre-test 12.20) in primary school students.
Does a breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention reduce anxiety and social stress in primary school children?
A breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention may help primary school children learn conscious breathing and manage anxiety and social stress.
Primary school students suffer from high levels of anxiety and stress. Having emotional regulation abilities can help them to manage challenging emotional situations. Conscious and slow breathing is a physiological, emotional regulation strategy that is feasible for primary school students to learn. Following Polyvagal Theory and PMER Theory, this research presents the results of a breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention. The intervention aimed to reduce anxiety and physiological and social stress in primary school children. A total of 585 students (46.4% girls and 53.6% boys) from the same public school, aged between 7 and 12 years (M = 8.51; SD = 1.26), participated in this study. To assess the impact of training, a mixed design was used with two groups (Treatment and Control groups), two evaluation phases (Pretest and Post-test), and three educational cycles (first, second and third cycles). To examine heart rate variability, emWave software was used and anxiety and social stress were measured by the BASC II test. The results showed that after the intervention, the students learned to breathe consciously. Moreover, they reduced their levels of anxiety (M(SD)pretest = 12.81(2.22) vs. M(SD)posttest = 13.70(1.98)) and stress (M(SD)pretest = 12.20(1.68) vs. M(SD)posttest = 12.90(1.44)). The work also discusses the limitations and benefits of this type of intervention in primary schools.
Ruiz et al. (Wed,) conducted a other in Anxiety and social stress (n=585). Breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention vs. Control group was evaluated on Anxiety and social stress. A breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention reduced anxiety (post-test mean 13.70 vs pre-test 12.81) and stress (post-test 12.90 vs pre-test 12.20) in primary school students.