Title Mindful Eating Programme for Childhood Obesity Prevention (MEPCOP): A longitudinal study of Mindfulness-Based Psychoeducational Intervention
Authors Perez, Beatriz De Lara , Delgado-Rios, Myriam , GARCÍA DE CASTRO, FERNANDO JAVIER
External publication No
Means Mindfulness
Scope Article
Nature Científica
JCR Quartile 1
SJR Quartile 1
Publication date 01/06/2025
ISI 001502706800001
DOI 10.1007/s12671-025-02591-y
Abstract ObjectivesTo objective of this study was to develop, implement and analyse the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based psychoeducational intervention to prevent childhood obesity by improving eating habits.MethodsA psychoeducational study was carried out over 6 months involving 207 children aged 7 to 11 years, following a pre-post design with a follow-up phase and a control group. The intervention was the implementation of the Mindful Eating Programme for Childhood Obesity Prevention (MEPCOP), aimed at improving children\'s eating behaviour. The programme comprised eight sessions of one hour each, which were held in classrooms of different primary schools. Several split-plot analyses of variance were performed including adherence to the mediterranean diet (MD), mindfulness skills (MS) and mindful eating (ME), awareness (AS) and mindless eating (MLS) as dependent variables, the treatment (experimental or control group) as the between factor and the points in time measurement (pre-test, post-test and follow-up) as the within factor.ResultsAdherence to the mediterranean diet improved and mindfulness skills increased after the implementation of the intervention programme, while mindless eating decreased.ConclusionsThe results showed that MEPCOP was effective in improving children\'s eating behavior. Further studies are needed to confirm and support the generalisability of these results.
Keywords Mindful eating; Obesity; Childhood; Prevention; Programme
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