Kindness Curriculum: Cultural adaptation and feasibility study for the Brazilian context
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Abstract
The practice of mindfulness has been shown to be associated with executive functions and enhanced socioemotional skills in childhood. Despite the potential benefits, however, there are still few structured programs in Brazil that may be implemented in a school context. The aim of this study is to carry out a cultural adaptation of the Kindness Curriculum for Preschoolers, a mindfulness-based program designed to improve socioemotional skills among preschoolers, for use in Brazilian public schools. The lessons of the original program were translated and adapted to Brazilian Portuguese and piloted in a Brazilian public school with the participation of 19 children aged 5-6 years, and their legal guardians and teachers. Feasibility was assessed through qualitative analysis of the verbal reports collected in meetings with the teachers. The possible impact of the program on emotional regulation skills, empathy, inhibitory control and theory of mind was analyzed using neuropsychological and behavioral assessments of the children before and after the pilot. The results reveal indicators of adequate feasibility of the adapted version, as well as improvement in measures of empathy and inhibitory control. Future studies, such as clinical trials, will be necessary to better investigate the program’s effectiveness.
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