MINNEAPOLIS — A weekly online program, delivered via teleconference over 2 months, was feasible for teaching mindfulness and social-emotional skills to children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and their caregivers, according to a research poster presented at the American College of Rheumatology’s Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium (PRSYM) 2026.

Preliminary findings from a study assessing the Making Mindfulness Matter (M3) program suggest it leads to “significant improvements in mindfulness awareness and emotional regulation” in children and “greater mindful practice and confidence” in parents in supporting their children, reported Roberta Berard, MD, MSc, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Western University and the division director of Pediatric Rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, Canada.

“Participants expressed enjoyment of the program, felt a strong sense of connection, and appreciated the interactive activities,” Berard said. Despite scheduling challenges that limited their ability to randomly assign families screened for participation, “strong adherence and satisfaction support the promise of M3 as a scalable mental health support strategy within JIA care,” she said.

Children with rheumatologic disease have an increased risk for poor mental health that can affect their quality of life, educational attainment, medical adherence, health care utilization, disease-related outcomes, and transition to adult care.

“Similarly, caregivers of children with JIA also experience negative mental health effects, and the wellbeing of the caregivers is often overlooked as an important contributing factor to the mental health of children with JIA,” Berard told attendees.

Grant Schulert, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, told Medscape Medical News that he found the M3 program and study very interesting.

“We see in our patients with chronic rheumatic diseases and their families that there’s such a huge mental health burden that goes along with the disease and how it impacts their life, so interventions that can help tackle that in a holistic way are really important,” Schulert said. “It’s a pilot study, but I liked looking at the kids and the parents both separately and together and being able to give tailored interventions for both of those groups.”

Although M3 is not yet available commercially, Schulert said there’s “clearly a need for something that’s readily transferable and can be offered to patients.”

Study Details

M3 is an 8-week online program delivered by trained research facilitators via Zoom that aims to help parents and their children develop skills to manage emotions and behaviors and to build caring relationships with those around them, she explained.

The standardized protocol, presentation slides, and scripts used by the facilitators teach mindful awareness, social-emotional learning skills, neurobiology, and positive psychology. In addition to the two facilitators who lead each caregiver and child group, a researcher attends the sessions. The parent sessions are 1.5 hours long, and the child sessions are 1 hour long, delivered separately, but at the end of each one the parents and children practice the skills they learned together. They also complete reports for using the skills at home.

The researchers are leading a randomized controlled trial at three sites where families are assigned to receive the M3 intervention or to a waitlist as a control group. Berard presented preliminary findings on the feasibility of the program with some of the early qualitative feedback.

Of 67 pairs of caregivers and children screened, a third (33%) were randomized, 11 pairs to the M3 program and 11 pairs to the waitlist. The caregivers included 19 mothers, two fathers, and one grandparent. Two of the 22 parents were single parents, and the caregivers were an average 40 years old. The mostly female (82%) children were an average 9 years old with an average 5 years of disease duration.

Half of the children (50%) and 75% of the parents attended at least six of the eight sessions. Both groups had strong engagement, with the camera on for more than 85% of the session for 75% of the parents and 88% of the children.

Pre- and post-intervention surveys from the participants revealed a substantial increase in attaining the skills taught by the program. Before the intervention, 42% of children said that they always or sometimes understood and used breathing breaks, which increased to 100% after the intervention. Similarly, the proportion of children who said they always or sometimes understood emotional regulation increased from 50% to 95%.

The proportion of caregivers who report “often” or “regularly” practicing mind breaks increased from 31% before the program to 63% afterward. Those who often or regularly felt confident in helping their child calm down increased from 69% to 90%, and those who said they use calm down tools often or regularly while helping their child increased from 42% to 84%.

One 8-year-old participant told the researchers “This group was fun! It was great to meet other kids with JIA like me!”

One of the parents told researchers it was particularly helpful to hear the reminders to “slow down and be in the present” and to learn to use breathing tools.

“I really enjoyed this, and it is great to see how my child is incorporating the concepts too,” another parent told the researchers. It’s “very valuable to learn mindful techniques at his young age and for me to learn them now too.”

The research was funded by The Brain Canada Foundation and Cassie + friends. Berard reported advising for Sandoz, AbbVie, SUN, and Celltrion. Schulert reported consulting and speaking for Sobi. 

Tara Haelle is a science/health journalist based in Dallas.