JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In the US, nearly half (48%) of school-aged children experience sleep disturbance resulting in less than the recommended sleep duration which may negatively impact mental health and behavior. Mindfulness interventions may improve sleep and mental health in youth. However, there are gaps in the literature with regard to how children and adolescents practice mindfulness and the extent to which they benefit from these practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine parents’ perceptions of their children’s engagement with a consumer-based mindfulness meditation app and the extent to which they believe their children have benefitted from using the app, particularly with regard to sleep.

Objective:

Determine parents’ perceptions of their children’s engagement with a consumer-based mindfulness meditation app and the extent to which they believe their children have benefitted from using the app, particularly with regard to sleep.

Methods:

The current study is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey in adult (N=11,108) subscribers to the mindfulness meditation mobile app, Calm. Participants who indicated that they had a child(ren) under the age of 18 who used the Calm app were asked additional questions related to their perceptions of their children’s engagement with Calm. Descriptive statistics were used to assess children’s app engagement and chi-square tests and binary logistic regression models were used to assess differences in children’s usage based on gender and age.

Results:

Of the respondents with children (N=2,944), approximately half of parents (N= 1,537; 52%) reported that their children used Calm. Children used Calm mostly for 1) sleep (n=1168; 76%), 2) stress (n=491; 32%), 3) depression or anxiety (n=430; %), and 4) to improve overall health (n=215;14%). Older children were more likely to begin using Calm to improve stress or to reduce depression or anxiety, whereas younger children were more likely begin using Calm to improve sleep. Most children used Calm when laying down to go to bed (72%). Children were most likely to use Sleep Stories at night (94%) followed by music/soundscapes (67%), meditations (65%), and breathing exercises (55%). Nearly all parents believed using Sleep Stories was helpful for their children’s sleep (96%) and the majority of parents felt the other components were also helpful for their children’s sleep (music/soundscapes [78%], meditations [63%], and breathing exercises [55%]).

Conclusions:

This study is the first study to explore parents’ perceptions of how their children and/or adolescents use a consumer-based mindfulness mobile app. As the majority of children use the Calm app for sleep, mindfulness meditation mobile apps should consider incorporating age-appropriate sleep content to meet the needs of this audience. More research is needed to confirm the feasibility and effectiveness for improving sleep and mental health in children and adolescents using mindfulness meditation apps.