Abstract:

Background:
Mindfulness is a technique for training people to be very careful and to fully accept the reality of what they are paying attention to.

The clinical efficacy of mindfulness has consistently been proved over the last two decades. Few studies, however, have been undertaken on its possible use in the training of adults in a formal learning context. In fact, you can observe a high degree of similarity between the instruments used e.g. in one of the most recognized protocols mindfulness, the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) di Hayes, such as cultivating the self-as-context, techniques of de-centralization or de-merger (Harris, 2011), and work on the changes of "perspectives of meaning", a fundamental requirement to achieve a “transformative learning” (Mezirow, 2003). Deliberately using the term skill rather than mindfulness meditation because from a perspective of ACT, formal meditation is just one of many ways to learn the basic skills of mindfulness for defusion, acceptance and contact time present (Harris 2009).

Aim of the research:
To evaluate and describe the effects of a course of mindfulness in the training of young adults in order to examine the pedagogical implications.
Building tools to promote competence meta-cognitive and meta-emotions in educational contexts by using the "fertile ground" mindfulness practices for a rational affective education integrated into the educational processes (Baldacci, 2009).

Methods:
This pilot study aim to describe, through the analysis of the narration in the form of aborder diary, the way of a group of young university students who take part in a laboratory on mindfulness practices performed in the context of the activities of LEPE, Laboratory Educational Practices Epistemological of the University Naples “Federico II”. The workshop was a structured programme inspired by the ACT and consisted of 6 two-hour classes as part of the course in the pedagogy of learning processes of the degree course in Psychology. 40 students participating in the workshop, signed up to participate in the research by filling out a border diary.

Results:
The border diary showed that students who participated in the workshop on mindfulness understood its meaning and usefulness and the importance of the experiential and reflective nature of the instruments presented.

Conclusions:
The possible implications of the findings of this study
regard the ability to use and promote the use of the techniques of mindfulness beyond the clinical setting as valuable tools for growth and development and above all within the context of learning.

References:
[1] Baldacci Massimo (a cura di) I profili emozionali dei modelli didattici. Come integrare istruzione e affettività (2009), Franco Angeli
[2] Mezirov J., Apprendimento e trasformazione. Il significato dell’esperienza e il valore della riflessione nell’apprendimento degli adulti (2003) Raffaello Cortina Editore.
[3] Russ Harris, ACT Made simple: An Easy-To-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2009) New Harbinger Publications.
[4] Russ Harris, Fare act. Una guida pratica per professionisti all’Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2011) Franco Angeli.

Keywords:

Mindfulness, transformative learning, Psychology students.