Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life Program for 4-H Camp Youth

This evaluation research addressed the gap in the stress management education literature related to short-term mindfulness programs for youth in non-formal educational settings. The Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program was adapted from existing curricula and delivered in Ohio and Pennsylvania during summer 2019. The purpose of the program was to help youth participants develop an understanding of the concept of mindfulness and instill a desire in them to apply mindfulness practices in their daily lives. Sixty-eight youth ages 10 to 18 participated in the program. We utilized a nonexperimental study design, with a simple 1-group pretest posttest design. One portion of the survey instrument was posttest only. A new outcomes evaluation instrument was developed. This study demonstrated that program participation increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness and intention to apply mindfulness practices. The application of Pearson correlation showed there is a substantial significant relationship between desire to continue mindfulness practice and intention to practice mindfulness (r = .62, p = .01). Study results suggested that mindfulness program practitioners should first focus on helping youth learn the benefits of mindfulness in order to instill the desire among youth to practice mindfulness in daily life. Other recommendations for program practitioners and the evaluation instrument are discussed.

In 1979, Kabat-Zin introduced his mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (Bodhi, 2011). The MBSR program and adapted variations of this program have been studied among adult populations. Chiesa and Serretti (2009) mentioned that mindfulness programs can aid adults in both clinical and community settings in reducing stress levels.
There are few studies of MBSR programming as a stress reduction program for youth (Sibinga et al., 2011). However, we will discuss results from mindfulness programing studies with youth in formal educational settings later in this paper. Moreover, there are limited studies related to mindfulness short-term programs for youth in non-formal education settings, which we discuss further in the text. Established national youth development programs, like the 4-H program, may be a suitable setting to conduct a youth mindfulness program evaluation. 4-H has few published studies on program evaluation of mindfulness in camping settings (Le, 2014;Lewis et al., 2020). programmatic experiences that will "increase the likelihood of enhanced wellbeing and optimal development" (Arnold, 2018, p. 141). Youth development involves providing both structured and unstructured experiences to help youth learn life skills (Houghton & DiLiello, 2009;Zeldin & Camino, 1999). Seemiller's (2018) youth leadership competency model identified resiliency, self-understanding, and social-emotional learning as key elements for today's youth programs. Youth need structured programs to develop the life skills needed to face today's societal challenges outside of school and the academic year (Hill et al., 2015). There is not much documented impact for life-skill development as a result of involvement in youth development programs (Allen & Lohman, 2016), and more youth development program evaluations need to be shared among youth development and evaluation scholars.

Stand-alone events in a 4-H youth development context have demonstrated effectiveness for
promoting youth life-skill development (Hoffman, 2011). At past 4-H events, youth improved their self-perception (Leggette et al., 2013), learned about themselves and experienced personal growth (Bush et al., 2019;Schmitt-McQuitty, 2007), and learned to set goals and solve problems (Leggette et al., 2013;Schmitt-McQuitty, 2007). However, more research is needed to examine mindfulness programs in a 4-H program context, as few studies have explored this line of inquiry in a 4-H camp setting (Le, 2014;Lewis et al., 2020).
Youth development theories guide the development of 4-H programs, and Perkins's (2009) theory guided program development in the present study. The six Cs of community youth development and four asset categories model (Perkins, 2009) served as the guiding framework for the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program for 4-H Camp Youth. The program promoted the following asset categories from Perkins's work: physical development (good health habits), intellectual development (good mental health, good emotional self-regulation, good coping skills, sense of autonomy), and psychological and emotional development (good mental health, good emotional self-regulation, good coping skills).

Mindfulness Programs for Youth in Formal and Non-formal Educational Settings
In formal educational settings (or school settings), mindfulness programs often include at least one of the following common components: breath awareness, working with thoughts and emotions, psychoeducation, application of mindfulness to daily life, group discussion, bodyscan, home practice, kindness practice, body-practices (such as yoga), and mindful movement (Burke, 2009;Zenner et al., 2014). Improved soft skills as a result of these programs included improved academic performance (Franco Justo et al., 2011), improved social skills (Joyce et al., 2010;Napoli et al., 2005), increased emotional regulation (Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010;White, 2012), and improved behavior (Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010).
In non-formal educational settings, mindfulness programs for youth have demonstrated a variety of benefits for participants, including reduced stress and increased strategies to deal with stress, improved ability to pay attention, increased self-compassion, and higher life satisfaction (Bluth et al., 2015). Other shown benefits include improved balance, increased selfawareness, and reduced negative behaviors due to stress (Berger & Stein, 2009). Community mindfulness programs in a camp context resulted in a reduction in anxiety for youth (Liehr & Diaz, 2010) and a reduction in stress levels (Le, 2014). Lewis and colleagues (2020) found that adults are more likely than youth to feel ready to implement mindfulness in the future after learning about mindfulness in a camp setting. However, there are few studies in the literature that examined mindfulness for youth in camp settings.
We found and reviewed four long-term mindfulness programs in non-formal settings. Our review of programs did not present any short-term mindfulness program curricula for youth. We chose the only two long-term 4-H youth mindfulness curricula available, another available Extension curricula for adults, and a widely cited formal mindfulness curriculum to help better understand existing mindfulness curricula for youth and guide adaptation and development of the program. We will now describe each of the programs in greater detail. The lead researcher did not thoroughly examine more programs due to having limited time to complete her graduate degree and lack of funds to purchase and review more curricula. The review proved to provide a sufficient foundation for the project.
One of the most widely cited youth mindfulness curricula available is Learning to BREATHE (Broderick & Frank, 2014). The Learning to BREATHE curriculum is a long-term mindfulness program for youth ages 14 to 18 that is comprised of several weeks of instruction. The longterm program includes the following mindfulness components: Body Awareness, Understanding and Working with Thoughts, Understanding and Working with Feelings, Integrating Awareness of Thoughts, Feelings, and Bodily Sensations, Reducing Harmful Self-judgements, and Integrating Mindful Awareness into Daily Life. Through this program, participants gain mindfulness skills from their teachers or other trained practitioners to better handle their emotions.
The second program reviewed was GEMS (Get Experience in Mindfulness). GEMS was developed for 4-H youth ages 10 to 19 (Banks & Bercaw, 2018). The program focuses on the following units: Intentions and Goal Setting, Awareness and Attention, Self-care: Stress Reduction & Relaxation, Communication and Relationships, and Gratitude and Acceptance. Each unit takes 45 minutes to 1 hour. The program is designed to be taught over 5 weeks. Program participants gain mindfulness skills to better manage stress and set goals to practice mindfulness in the future. County 4-H Extension educators or program assistants teach the program.
The third mindfulness curriculum reviewed was another 4-H curriculum, called Yoga for Kids (Washburn & Copeland, 2014). The program is for youth ages 5 to 19. Yoga provides health benefits for people of all ages. Yoga uses "breath, physical postures or poses and mindfulness to help strengthen and calm the body and mind" (Nickels, 2015). The curriculum training involves learning floor poses (43 in all), yoga games, breathing exercises, and guided relaxation techniques. These activities can be adapted into short-term programs or programs taking place over several weeks. Trained 4-H educators and volunteers deliver the training to youth at 4-H clubs, at schools, or in community settings.
The fourth reviewed curriculum, the Ohio State University (OSU) Mindful Wellness curriculum, was developed by OSU Extension. This program was developed and taught to adults in community settings. Units of instruction include Introduction to Mindfulness, Mindful Foundations, Mindful Breathing, Mindful Living, and Mindful Eating (Powers-Barker et al., 2018).
The program is designed to be five 1-hour workshop sessions delivered over 5 weeks. Family and Consumer Science Extension educators are trained to deliver the curriculum.
The literature suggests that a short-term mindfulness program may be an effective way to help address youth stress-management challenges, however, more studies need to be done in this area. In this study, a short-term mindfulness program refers to a 2-hour mindfulness program taught 1 day or 2 days back-to-back in 1-hour increments. There were only two Extension studies identified that tested and evaluated a short-term mindfulness program for 4-H youth (Le, 2014;Lewis et al.,2020). Le's (2014) study evaluated a mindfulness program taught at a 4-H camp for military kids. However, the curriculum components were not presented in the study or available online. Study results did indicate the mindfulness program taught youth strategies to better manage stress. Lewis and colleagues' (2020) study assessed a mindfulness Extension program for both children and adults in a camp setting. Study results showed that adults felt more confident than youth participants that they may be able to incorporate mindfulness principles in their daily lives.
In Pennsylvania and Ohio, there was no existing curriculum available for teaching mindfulness in a 4-H camp setting. There also was no existing mindfulness curriculum for a short-term program in a 4-H camp setting. In concert, few studies have examined the effects of mindfulness programming for youth outside of school and after-school settings. Therefore, the authors of the present study adapted a research-based program on mindfulness, which was adapted, implemented, evaluated, and studied in a 4-H non-formal educational setting.

Description of the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life Program
The Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program was adapted from existing curricula (Banks & Bercaw, 2018;Broderick & Frank, 2014;Powers-Barker et al., 2018;Washburn & Copland, 2014). The authors learned that no short-term mindfulness program curriculum for  (Burke, 2009;Zenner et al., 2014). The specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goals component of the program was added because writing a goal down causes it to be more likely to be achieved (Gardner, 2015). The short-term program involves a 2-hour workshop where an instructor guides 10 to 30 youth ages 10 to 18 through each of the program components. The program was guided by five learning objectives. The 1 st hour of the program focused on two objectives: Understand the concept of mindfulness and apply mindfulness concepts by completing guided activities, such as mindful movement, deep breathing, and other meditation exercises. The 2 nd hour of the workshop focused on the following objectives: Analyze and reflect upon how they can apply mindfulness in their daily lives, understand how the concepts of mindfulness and self-awareness relate to leadership concepts, and discuss how to apply and set SMART goals to implement mindfulness and leadership concepts at home (i.e., personal practice, through cultivating relationships, through 4-H club work, community work, etc.).
This paper presents an evaluation of the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program participants' outcomes in non-formal education settings. Specifically, the paper investigates outcomes related to participants' knowledge change, intention, and desire to apply mindfulness practices in daily life. This paper applies an outcomes-based evaluation approach.

Methods
The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program that was adapted and delivered in Pennsylvania and Ohio 4-H camps, among youth ages 10 to 18 years. The following evaluation questions guided the present study: 1. Does participation in the mindfulness program increase perceived knowledge of mindfulness?
2. Do program participants intend to apply mindfulness practices in daily life?
3. How does desire to continue mindfulness practice relate to intention to practice mindfulness?

Study Design
To address the evaluation questions, a simple one-group pretest posttest design and posttest only design was utilized for this non-experimental study. The evaluation design chosen for the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program was outcomes-based, as the primary goal of the study was to determine if there was preliminary evidence to support participant increase in knowledge of mindfulness and intention to apply and learn more about mindfulness (Institute of Museum and Library Services, n.d.). A survey methodology was used to answer the evaluation questions. This study used a convenience sample, a non-probability sampling method that uses study participants based on being easily available (Patton, 2002 were involved in church, after-school programs, and volunteering, but not additional extracurricular activities. They felt supported by family and friends, but not by the church or adults who lead youth organizations.

Instrumentation
The evaluation instrument was comprised of 23 items. The pretest evaluation items included items 1 through 7 and the posttest evaluation items included items 17 through 32. The instrument was partially adapted from a previous community mindfulness evaluation instrument (Roeser, 2019). The summary of the evaluation instrument is presented in Table 2

Perceived Knowledge of Mindfulness
The construct perceived knowledge of mindfulness was measured by items 1 through 7. These

Intention to Apply Mindfulness Practices in Daily Life
The construct intention to apply mindfulness practices in daily life was measured through items 24-28. These five items were adapted from Roeser's (2019) community mindfulness program evaluation instrument. The five items measure youth intent to apply mindfulness practices after the program. The items list the practices, for example, "breath awareness" and "loving-kindness practice," and youth were instructed to rate how likely they were to use the concepts as a result of program participation. The items utilized a 3-point Likert scale labeled 1 (definitely won't use), 2 (maybe will use), and 3 (definitely will use).

Desire to Learn More About Mindfulness
The construct desire to learn more about mindfulness was comprised of two newly developed items, items 29-30, in the instrument. The two items, "I want to learn more about mindfulness" and "I want my friends to learn more about mindfulness" were rated on a 5-point Likert agreement scale.

Data Collection
Data were collected via paper-and-pencil surveys provided to program participants at the beginning and conclusion of the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program. Participants completed the pre-program evaluation before completing the 2-hour mindfulness program.
After the 2-hour program, participants completed the posttest. Surveys were collected at the completion of the program. Collected data were transferred into SPSS software version 25 for statistical analysis.

Data Analysis
A paired sample t-test was utilized to determine if there was preliminary evidence to support that participation in the mindfulness program increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness before and after the program. Descriptive statistics were utilized to determine whether or not there may be evidence to suggest program participants intended to apply mindfulness practices in daily life. An application of Pearson's correlation test was used to determine if there may be initial evidence showing a relationship between desire to continue mindfulness practice and intention to practice mindfulness. The independent and dependent variables were treated as interval data. Davis's (1971) conventions were utilized to determine the magnitude of the relationships between variables. These conventions are presented in Table 3.

Findings Question 1: Does participation in the mindfulness program increase perceived knowledge of mindfulness?
The paired samples t-test provided evidence to suggest that on average, youth increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness for each item when both pretest and posttest mean scores were examined. The t-test also showed that the overall mean score for all posttest items increased when compared to the pretest item scores. Results of the paired samples t-tests, for item-by-item comparisons and overall pretest and posttest comparisons, showed a significant (p < .01) relationship between pretest and posttest scores for all items. Means and standard deviations for pretest and posttest perceived knowledge of mindfulness items are shown in Table 4. Paired samples t-test results for perceived knowledge of mindfulness are shown in Table 5. The results give initial evidence to suggest that participation in the mindfulness program increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness for youth participants. For pretest overall mean values, normality assumptions were met. The results suggest that participation in the mindfulness program increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness for youth participants. Note. Participants rated perceived knowledge of mindfulness using a 5-point, Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Results are significant at the .01 level of significance. Note. Participants rated perceived knowledge of mindfulness using a 5-point, Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Results are significant at the p < .01 level.

Question 2: Do program participants intend to apply mindfulness practices in daily life?
The results of descriptive data analysis showed that, on average, participants intend to maybe use or definitely use what they learned in the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program.
Mean scores for items related to intention to apply mindfulness practices items and intention to apply mindfulness practices overall (M = 2.30, SD = .52) are shown in Table 6. The normality assumptions were met. The results suggest that participation in the program influenced participants' intention to apply mindfulness practices after the program. Note. Participants rated intention to apply mindfulness practices using a 3-point, Likert-type scale:

Question 3: How does desire to continue mindfulness practice relate to intention to practice mindfulness?
The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient test showed a substantial association and significant relationship between desire to continue mindfulness practice and intention to practice mindfulness (r = .62, p = .01). Davis' (1971) conventions were utilized to examine the magnitude of the relationship between variables. Table 7 shows the relationship between variables.

Discussion
This study makes a unique contribution to the study of youth mindfulness program development, implementation, and evaluation in a non-formal educational setting. The literature related to formal educational mindfulness programs is substantial. However, there is a lack of short-term and non-formal mindfulness programs and program evaluations for youth audiences.
Mindfulness education for youth in non-formal educational environments is an emerging area of study (Greenberg & Harris, 2012), and youth participants' voices will be important for practice and research as this field moves forward.
Through a program evaluation, this study sought to evaluate the initial outcomes of the  The majority of participants in this study indicated that they intend to maybe use or definitely use the mindfulness practices they learned from the program. This aligns with previous research, which indicated that the majority of youth will apply what they learned from a mindfulness program after the program conclusion. In concert, this aligns with the program intention of fostering physical development and good health habits for youth through the program (Perkins, 2009). Kuyken et al. (2013) found that 61% of participants applied mindfulness practices two or more times after receiving a mindfulness program at school. Broderick and Metz (2009) conducted a pilot study of the Learning to BREATHE program and found that 65% of participants were applying mindfulness concepts outside of the formal program. However, most mindfulness program evaluations did not ask if youth were applying or intended to apply mindfulness practices in their daily lives after program completion.
The results of this initial program evaluation found a substantial significant relationship between intention to apply mindfulness practices and desire to learn more about mindfulness (r = .615, p = .01). The results suggest youth who intend to apply mindfulness practices after the program are more likely to desire to learn more about mindfulness, which may indicate the beginnings of a sense of autonomy and intellectual development in the context of mindfulness as a youth life skill (Perkins, 2009 apply what they learned may have been impacted by the youth being excited about mindfulness due to having recently experienced the program and response shift bias (Howard, 1980).
Mindfulness studies in formal education settings confirm that mindfulness programs are effective in reducing stress and anxiety among youth participants (Bluth et al., 2015;Broderick & Metz, 2009;Franco Justo et al., 2011;Mendelson et al., 2010;Metz et al., 2013;Napoli et al., 2005;Potek, 2012;Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010;White, 2012). Studies of youth mindfulness programs in formal educational settings also reported improved mental health and behavior for program participants (Broderick & Metz, 2009;Flook et al., 2010;Mendelson et al., 2010;Noggle et al., 2012;Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010), which may indicate better ability for youth to manage stress as well. Most of these studies used a pretest-posttest design, in which tests were distributed immediately before the program began and immediately after the program ended. However, these studies and the present study lacked a follow-up after several weeks, which would help to better determine whether or not there were lasting effects of the program.
We found results suggesting that a short-term mindfulness program may increase youth knowledge of mindfulness. The results of this study align with previous findings that youth mindfulness program participants in formal settings improved mental health and coping skills (Biegel & Brown, 2010;Franco Justo et al., 2011;Joyce et al., 2010;Napoli et al., 2005;Mendelson et al., 2010;Metz et al., 2013;Potek, 2012;Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010;White 2012). In concert, youth mindfulness programs in community settings have aided youth participants by reducing stress (Bluth et al., 2015;Jee, 2015), increasing their ability to pay attention (Bluth et al., 2015), and reducing occurrence of negative behaviors due to stress (Berger & Stein, 2009).
Previous research also demonstrated that youth experienced a reduction in stress as a result of participating in the mindfulness program in non-formal youth settings, including a camp setting (Frauman, 2011;Gillard et al., 2011;Le, 2014;Liehr & Diaz, 2010). Moreover, mindfulness may be useful for staff training in a camp setting as well (Gillard et al., 2011). Our study supported Le's (2014) and Lewis and colleagues' (2020) findings that mindfulness programming in a 4-H setting helps youth learn skills to manage stress.

Limitations
The research results were limited to the convenience sample of Pennsylvania and Ohio 4-H youth who attended 4-H camp sites participating in the study, so results are not able to be generalized across all Pennsylvania 4-H youth and Ohio 4-H youth or all Pennsylvania and Ohio youth. In concert, there have been few studies assessing teaching mindfulness in non-formal educational settings. However, no instrument existed in the literature to measure outcomes of a short-term mindfulness program for youth in a non-formal educational setting. Therefore, this study was exploratory in nature and results cannot be completely conclusive. We also acknowledge there are limitations related to the evaluation design. We used single sample prepost design due to limited time for the lead author, who was a master's student at the time of data collection, to complete her academic program. However, we think this design can be useful as a starting place for the newly adapted curriculum, and hope others will apply our study contributions to studies with multiple sites, and if possible, randomization in data collection.

Lessons Learned
We learned several lessons in our study that we would like to share with future practitioners. The program practitioners should also consider the physical environment of the program.
Whether the program is held indoors or outside, a yoga mat or towel is needed for youth to be able to comfortably sit and lie down during the meditation components of the program.
Finally, the program practitioners should practice mindfulness themselves prior to the program.
This will aid practitioners in guiding youth discussion about their experiences with each of the mindfulness practices. In addition, children will be more likely to want to learn and practice mindfulness if they notice the instructor's passion for it (Shonin and Van Gordon, 2015).

Future Directions and Recommendations
Due to lack of literature, more research is needed on the effects of short-term mindfulness There are rarely opportunities to follow up with children an extended period after they have completed a mindfulness program, but future studies should consider doing so if it is feasible.
In 2012, Potek conducted a follow-up assessment within 7 weeks and 14 weeks after a longterm mindfulness program was delivered to youth participants. Potek found that anxiety symptoms and stress were reduced among youth participants. Inability to follow up with participants was a limitation of the present study. More longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether or not youths' intention to continue to practice mindfulness will remain after short-term exposure to a mindfulness program.
Because the sample of the program study was small and not random, Pennsylvania and Ohio 4-H and similar youth organizations should repeat the program next summer with a larger, randomly selected population of youth. Camps and study sites could be randomly assigned as to receiving the program or having to serve as the control by taking a stratified sample. More study sites and random sampling would help to further validate study findings and program participant outcomes. In addition, implementing this program in various youth settings, such as educational and community settings or via virtual platforms, would help validate the feasibility and utility of the program for audiences beyond Extension.
Finally, because the long-term goal would be to teach youth to use mindfulness to manage stress, future practitioners could provide a follow-up program focused on teaching youth to apply mindfulness techniques to manage stress specifically. In this program, limited time allowed only for introducing youth to the topic and giving them a chance to try mindfulness practices.

Conclusion
The study results suggest that participation in the short-term mindfulness program increased perceived knowledge of mindfulness for youth participants. The results also suggest that participation in the program influenced participants' intention to apply mindfulness practices after the program. In concert, preliminary evaluation data for this program found that there was a substantial significant relationship between desire to continue mindfulness practice and intention to practice mindfulness.
The results of this study showed that in order to better understand the changes in behaviors as a result of short-term mindfulness programs like the Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program, more follow-up studies should be conducted to help better determine the long-term impacts of this program. Again, the program curriculum is available upon request from the authors for educational use. Broderick and Metz (2009) and Mendelson and colleagues (2010) also noted that long-term follow up studies could help determine if participants are retaining and applying mindfulness practices to manage stress. Due to lack of literature, this study may offer preliminary guidance to similar organizations looking to implement and evaluate shortterm mindfulness programs. However, additional similar studies with random sampling should be conducted to help further validate the method and findings of the present study. More randomized studies of short-term mindfulness programs in non-formal educational settings will help to advance literature and participant outcomes for youth mindfulness and stress management programming.