Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Approximately 3 of 10 children and adolescents who experience concussion have persistent symptoms beyond one-month post-injury, including headaches, poor concentration, fatigue, and mood difficulties. These symptoms can have a negative impact on children's lives, including getting back into sports, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities. Research has shown that mindfulness-based interventions (MBI), psychological interventions targeted towards attending to the present moment, can improve attention, cognition, mental health, self-concept, resiliency, and academic achievements in non-concussed youth. MBI be an effective treatment to improve both brain health and clinical recovery in concussed youth. No research, however, has examined the effects of MBI on brain structure/function and clinical symptoms of concussion in children and adolescents. The purpose of this research project is to study whether MBI following a pediatric concussion can help with brain health and clinical symptoms. A randomized-controlled trial will address these questions by implementing an app-based MBI to children and adolescents immediately following a concussion. State of the art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques will be used to measure brain differences that might occur with MBI. I hypothesize that MBI will be associated with positive brain health. I also believe that participants in the MBI group will have decreased clinical symptoms of concussion, specifically emotional and fatigue symptoms. This research will shed light on the efficacy of MBI as a psychological intervention for pediatric concussion.