Community College Student Parents and Their Experiences with Mindfulness Training

Community college students who are parents (student parents) are highly motivated to succeed but face many challenges, including finances, transportation, and childcare, which leads to high levels of stress and anxiety. Mindfulness practices of returning to the breath and staying present in the body have been shown to help people manage stress and anxiety and live with greater ease. Using the stress and coping theory of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of student parents who participated in mindfulness training. Participants attended mindfulness classes, facilitated by an instructor trained in yoga, reiki, and mindfulness practices such Buddhism’s Noble Eightfold Path, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The participants completed a Mindfulness Training Welcome Survey that allowed for tabulation of their stress and coping scores. They submitted weekly journals about their experiences and participated in a final semistructured interview. Throughout the process, the researcher kept analytic memos, recording analysis of the interactions and conversations that occurred before, during, and after the training. Collected data was used to identify common themes derived through process and pattern coding, then shared through the relating of the participants’ personal stories, consistent with the testimonios methodology (Delgado Bernal et al., 2012). The common themes revealed that participants embraced the mindfulness strategies and found them helpful in managing personal and academic stress in their daily lives. The participants suffered from many stresses and the burden of heavy responsibility but found the strategies to help them cope better. They highly valued education and being role models for their children, inspired by the hope of improving life for themselves and their children. Furthermore, the student parents in the study were open to trying the strategies presented in class and to connecting with each other, and taking time for self-care. Having dealt with various types of trauma and painful life events, they considered the strategies taught in mindfulness training as beneficial in helping them process the past and live more fully in the present, better equipped to manage their many stresses and persevere in achieving their goals.