An integrative review of yoga and mindfulness-based approaches for children and adolescents with asthma

Abstract Problem Asthma affects almost 15% of children in the United States. Despite the availability of treatments and educational methods, children with asthma continue to report an impaired quality of life, including symptoms of anxiety and inability to participate in physical activity. As complementary health approaches are becoming more popular and show promise in the management of many chronic diseases, the purpose of this integrative review is to examine the state of the science regarding popular complementary health approaches- yoga and mindfulness- for children and adolescents with asthma. Eligibility criteria A comprehensive search of five databases for peer reviewed articles was performed to identify experimental and non-experimental studies. The search for each database was performed from the inception of each to January 2020 and limited to the English language. The search included terminology that addressed the concepts of “asthma”, “yoga” and “mindfulness”. Sample A total of eleven articles met the criteria for review from the years 1991 to 2019. Results Nine publications focused on the use of yoga in children and adolescents with asthma and two publications focused on mindfulness in adolescents with asthma. Conclusions Interventions involving either mindfulness or yoga may be effective in reducing stress and anxiety and improving quality of life and lung function in this population. Implications Mindfulness intervention studies in the pediatric and adolescent asthma population are warranted as are additional studies that include the use of yoga with skills in mindfulness in order to evaluate their physiological and psychological effects.